ee Te i ee eee er ee ae a 


tee alae ae 


sen 
ee 

ema, Pils Mg 

yePrepatts ep; 


tay 


~ 5 ey fan Pu forte) 





———————= = S— Ore ee rrr eee = - —_— 
= eae —— -. ~ ~~ + i 















6 
OU ie 
Bik * 


i we 
a 

‘aaa 
. i 


wi 


ae 





Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2022 with funding from 
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 


https ://archive.org/details/onehundredchoiceOOhall_ 0 


ONE HUNDRED CHOICE 
SERMONS FOR CHILDREN 


Rev. G. B. F. HALLOCK, p.p. 





By Rev. G. B. F. HALLOCK, p.p. 





Cyclopedia of Commencement Sermons 
and Baccalaureate Addresses 

One Hundred Choice Sermons for 
Children 

One Hundred Best Sermons for Special 
Days and Occasions 

The Evangelistic Cyclopedia 

Modern Cyclopedia of Illustrations 

Sermon Seeds 

Beauty in God’s Word 

The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the 
Christian Life 

The Model Prayer 

Journeying in the Land Where Jesus 
Lived 

The Homiletic Year 

Christ in the Home 





ONE HUNDRED CHOICE 
SERMONS FOR CHILDREN 


STORY SERMONS, DRAMA SERMONS, OB- 
JECT SERMONS, SERMONS FOR SPECIAL 
DAYS AND OCCASIONS AND FOR THE 
ENTIRE CHURCH YEAR BY OVER THIRTY 
DIFFERENT MINISTERS MOST GIFTED 
IN ADDRESSING CHILDREN AND YOUNG 


PEOPLE pee a 
apy OF RINGED 
NOs iy a 
COMPILED me EDITED BY 'N 14 1994 
Rev. G. B. F. HALLOCK, pv. \ » a / 
EDITOR oF The Expositor OT fi OSICAL RT 
et s Pe a 


NEW YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 





Copyright, 1924, 
By George H. Doran Company 


One Hundred Choice Sermons for Children 


Printed in the United States of America 


DEDICATED 
TO THE MEMORY OF 


FREDERICK M. BARTON 
FAITHFUL, DEVOTED, MANY-SIDED CHRISTIAN 
FRIEND OF MINISTERS, : 

FOUNDER oF The Expositor 


Se 
SABE ANG: 


ee 


» 
7 


Enea 
Ue 


ae! 4 
vid 





Avant-Propos 


It is said that an overwise seminary student at the close of 
one of the lectures of his professor in Biblical Theology on the 
Book of Proverbs remarked to his teacher that he did not see 
anything indicating inspiration in the Hebrew proverbs. The 
professor returned quick and caustic answer, “You would bet- 
ter write a few proverbs yourself.” 

If any reader should be inclined to criticise the Children’s 
Sermons contained in this volume, we invite him to write better 
ones. The art of preaching interestingly and profitably to chil- 
dren is not easy. It is difficult. Yet it is exceedingly impor- 
tant, and it is one that can be cultivated. The very fact that 
so many ministers have succeeded in it is proof enough. 

We commend the more than one hundred sermons in this 
volume, first, to ministers. They can find in them suggestions 
for good five-minute sermons for children to precede the longer 
sermons which they preach to adults. And we commend them 
to parents. They will find them good reading for their chil- 
dren on Sunday afternoons. We commend them also for use 
or suggestiveness to Sunday School and Day School teachers 
and to leaders in Daily Vacation Bible Schools. We commend 
them, moreover, to older people who feel young, believing they 
will find them interesting as stories, profitable as sermons and 
youth-promoting to their spirits. 

Cots id ah 





CONTENTS 


The First Christmas Tree (Christmas). 19 
ALFRED BARRATT 


The Greatest paaney Ha of All 


(Christmas) 22 
WILLIAM R. TAYLOR 
Mhree: Camels (Christmas) Gi. y er 8h 
CLAUDE ALLEN MC KAY 
Holly and Christmas (Christmas) . . 29 


JAMES LEARMOUNT 


The Mistletoe of Bethlehem (Christmas) . 32 
J. RAMSEY SWAIN 


Cesta eC TTStINOS br Wee ts. ee oe eG 
JAMES LEARMOUNT 


When the Days Talked ee (New 


ear keener. 40 
GEORGE N. EDWARDS 
Making Bold Beginnings (New Year) . 43 


W. H. GEISTWEIT 


. God’s Repair Shop (New Year) ao een oA 


ALFRED BARRATT 


. About Good Intentions (New Year) ee 40 


G. B. F. HALLOCK 


PeasNew toad. (New VY ear) oo. ey 0 


ALFRED BARRATT 


. Watch Your Steps (New Year) Sey a ii 


G. B. F. HALLOCK 


mNew Years: Day (New: Kear)... 87.0 3.5) 53 


BERNARD J. SNELL 


The Year’s Record (New Year) nap causts 
JAMES LEARMOUNT 
ix 


CONTENTS 


. Do Not Enter Here (New Year) 


CLAUDE ALLEN MC KAY 


Our Truest Riches (New Year) 
CURRIE MARTIN 


The Pony Engine . 

G. B. F. HALLOCK 
The Conies 

JOHN KELMAN 


God’s Garden 
Ss. EDWARD YOUNG 


Canned Sunshine 
EDWIN HALLOCK BYINGTON 


The Man That Swallowed Himself 
HENRY SLOANE COFFIN 

The Swans’ Dinner Bell 
G. B. F. HALLOCK 

The Longest Candle 
G. B. F. HALLOCK 


The Upholstered Worm 
G. B. F, HALLOCK 


. Lincoln Talk to Children PRES Birth- 


day) 
DOR nee 


A Sharp Bargain . 
Use: 
What Ailed the Clock? 
G. B. F. HALLOCK 
The Pedometer: jase a) sare 
JOHN A. MC AFEE 
Stand on My Shoulder . 
CLAUDE ALLEN MC KAY 


The Children’s Friend (Children’s Day) . 


ALFRED BARRATT 


PAGE 


59 


62 


66 


68 


70 


72 


75 


77 


78 


79 


81 


31. 
32. 


33. 
b4, 
395. 
36. 
"ff 
38. 
39. 
40. 
Al. 
42. 
43. 
44, 


{ 45. 


— 46. 


CONTENTS 


The Camel’s Stomach 
G. B. F. HALLOCK 


Photographs (Palm Sunday) 
E. A. 

Easter Joy and Light (aster) . 
ALFRED BARRATT 


Seeds and Stones (Kaster) . 
CHARLES E, BLANCHARD 


Easter (aster) 
JAMES LEARMOUNT 


Dandelions on the Lawn (Spring-Time) . 
G. B. F. HALLOCK 

The Light in the Window 
JAMES A. BRIMELOW 


Worth-while Service 
ALFRED BARRATT 


Jack and the Colt . 
W. H. MARBACH 


Flowers (Children’s Day) 
E. P. VISARD 


The Signboard 
STUART NYE HUTCHISON 


Why the Crows Say Caw (Children’s Day) 
G. B. F. HALLOCK 


The Flowers (Children’s Day) 

JAMES LEARMOUNT 
Moths : R . : 

CLINTON BLATZELL ADAMS 
A Children’s Sermon with White Mice as a 
Text 

J. G. STEVENSON 
“You’re a Brick” 

ANONYMOUS 


PAGH 


125 


128/ 


130 


CONTENTS 


Message from a Postage Stamp . 
GEORGE HENRY COMAN 
He Calls Them All by Name 
CLAUDE ALLEN MC KAY 
Who Flies the Kite? 
CLAUDE ALLEN MC KAY 
Lessons from a Lead Pencil 
A. M. REACH 


Lessons from the rovenatatiern 
G. B. F. HALLOCK 
A Look at the House You Live In 
CLAUDE ALLEN MC KAY 
The Children’s Ten Servants 
JAMES M. FARRAR 
Faithfulness : 
ALFRED BARRATT 
God Sees : 
FREDERICK T. BASTEL 
Lost Children 
G. B. F. HALLOCK 


The Man with the Oil Can . 
WILLIAM HARRISON 
Quick Obedience 
0. WEP: 


The Best Errand Boy . 
S. EDWARD YOUNG 


Working with a Pattern 
FREDERICK W. RAYMOND 


The Mysterious Ring 
T. W. RAINEY 


“Too Busy” 
A. J. TRAVER 


Make-Believe Diamonds 
JOHN F, TROUPE 


PAGE 
132 


139 


166 


169 


64. 


65. 


66. 


67. 


68. 


69. 


70. 


rd 


OF: 


73. 


TA. 


75. 


76. 


(if 


78. 


79. 


80. 


CONTENTS 


Running After the Arrows . 
FRANK N. MERRIAM 

The Story of a Jitney Driver 
GEORGE E, BEVANS 

Nature Voicing God’s Love 
G. B. F. HALLOCK 


How the Cedar Grows (Object Sermon) . 


J. RAMSEY SWAIN 
Singing in a Strange Place . 
JAMES STALKER 
A Lesson from the Lilies 

G. B. F. HALLOCK 
Good Morning 
JAMES A. BRIMELOW 


The Two Monks Who Tried to Quarrel . 


FRANK T. BAYLEY 


God’s Whispering Gallery 
JAMES A, BRIMELOW 


Thy Word Is a Lamp . 
G. B. F, HALLOCK 


Painting the Face on the Inside . 
JAMES M, FARRAR 
Echo Hollow . 
EUGENE C, CARDER 
Forty Martyrs and Forty Crowns 
W. DOUGLAS SWAFFIELD 
The Anger Tree 
G. B. F. HALLOCK 


Rhoda: The Girl Who Was Called Mad . 


A. MC AUSLANE 


An Enemy of the “No Good” Business 


(Temperance Sermon) 
EDWIN HAMLIN CARR 
Christ and the Child 
ANONYMOUS 


Xi 
PAGK 


171 


173 


195 
198 
200 
202 


204 


206 


208 


Iv 


81. 


82. 


83. 


84. 


85. 


86. 


87. 


88. 


89. 


90. 


91. 


92. 


93. 


94. 


95. 


96. 


CONTENTS 


How to Become Great . 
Lop ao 
Christ, the Light of the World 
CHARLES M, SHELDON 
A Wonderful Gift of God (Armistice Day) 
JAMES A. BRIMELOW 
Thanksgiving (Thanksgiving) 
WALTER DEANE 
Nine Men Who Forgot (Thanksgiving) 
CLAUDE ALLEN MC KAY 
Six Jewels in a Crown (Thanksgiving) 
GRAHAM C, HUNTER 
Harvest Thoughts (Thanksgiving) 
JAMES LEARMOUNT 
Having the Heart Right with God 
(Thanksgiving) . 
CHARLES M. SHELDON 
The Boy Who Wasn’t a Coward 
ALFRED BARRATT 
Capturing Three Robbers 
CLAUDE ALLEN MC KAY 
The Most Wonderful Mechanism te Oe 
Sermon) 
H. EB, WALHEY 
The Importance of Little pangs in the 
Building of Life 
CHARLES M, SHELDON 
God’s Parcel Post 
CLAUDE ALLEN MC KAY 
The Little Bird 
JAMES A, BRIMELOW 
Concentration (Object Sermon) . 
LESLIE E, DUNKIN 
Good Courage 
ALFRED BARRATT 


PAGH 
210 


212 


213 


228 


233 


236 


237 


239 


241 


243 


| 97. 


98. 


99. 


100. 


101. 


102. 


1038. 


104. 


105. 


106. 


107. 


108. 


109. 


110. 


111. 


112. 


CONTENTS 


Habit ae a 
BERNARD J. SNELL 
Putting Shoes on a Goose . 
CLAUDE ALLEN MC KAY 
The Sea Wall 
T. E. HOLLING 
Telling Lies 
ALFRED BARRATT 
Living Without Fear 
ALFRED BARRATT 
Looking Glasses on Mt. Tom 
EARL H, THAYER 
God’s Fire-Engine (Story Sermon) 
GEORGE W. ALLEN 
The Basket and the Mind 
ERNEST V. COLWELL 
Grindstones tes, 
ALFRED BARRATT 
With You Alway . 
ALFRED BARRATT 
The Letter of Life 
WILLARD P. SOPER 
What’s the Use of Praying? 
ALFRED BARRATT 
Faith in Others (Object Sermon) 
LESLIE F, DUNKIN 
Three Lessons the Candle auee (Object 
Sermon) rapes 
HENRY F. BURDON 
The Wasp 
T. E, HOLLING 
The New Eye-Glasses. . . . 
JAMES M. FARRAR 


PAGE 





ONE HUNDRED CHOICE 
SERMONS FOR CHILDREN 


1 
THE FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE 
(Christmas) 
Rev. Aurrep Barratr 


When Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem he did not have 
a Christmas tree. The children born in those days were not 
as fortunate as the children of today. The parents of Jesus 
were very poor, his home was not a palace, but a stable, his 
bed was not a pretty cot with a silk floss mattress, but a 
manger filled with hay, and yet in spite of his poverty and 
humility he was the only begotten Son of God, who left his 
throne in heaven above and came to earth in human form to 
live among the sin-bound people of this world to teach them 
the love of God, and to show them how much love God has for 
us. On the day of his birth the heavenly choir of angels gave 
a grand concert in Bethlehem. They sang their sky-born 
carols away up in the sky over the place where the lowly Child 
Jesus lay cradled in a humble cattle shed. One of the most 
beautiful songs the angels sang on that never-to-be-forgotten 
day was “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
good will toward men.” It must have been grand for those 
shepherds “who were abiding in the fields keeping watch over 
the flock by night” to hear such beautiful singing. 

They did not celebrate this wonderful event by gathering 
around a Christmas tree, but they left their sheep, and went 


down into Bethlehem to seek the newborn King, and when 
19 


20 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


they found him they worshipped him. The idea of a 
Christmas tree was not thought of in those days. The first 
Christmas tree was originated about 732 years after the birth 
of Jesus Christ. Perhaps the children who are looking 
anxiously with joy and great expectation to see the Christmas 
tree may like to hear the legend of the First Christmas Tree, 
and yet it may not merely be a legend, but history sending 
forth its radiant light through the dreary mists of tradition. 

It is an old German story—that Saint Wilfred transformed 
the heathen Teuton worship in the forest in the Christmas 
ceremony. About 732 years after the birth of Jesus Christ 
he took a band of priests with him and sought to convert the 
worshippers of Thor. It was on Christmas Eve, while they 
were fighting their way through the deep snow in the dense 
forest, that they came upon a savage tribe assembled under a 
thunder oak tree, symbolic of the god of thunder, Thor. The 
old, white-haired priest of the tribe was about to offer as a 
sacrifice to Thor, the god of thunder, the young, beautiful 
son of the tribe’s chief. When Wilfred saw it he rushed for- 
ward and warded off the arm that was about to slay the child. 
The tribesmen were all delighted at the saving of their favor- 
ite, and because of this act they very soon became converts to 
Christianity. Saint Wilfred then took his axe and started to 
cut down the old oak tree. As it was about to fall, lightning 
struck it and rended it into many pieces, and in its place there 
sprang up a slender fir tree green and sparkling. They carried 
this little fir tree to the chief captain’s hall, and set it in the 
middle of the room, and round it they all made merry. It was 
about this first Christmas tree that the old story of Jesus and 
his love was told to the Teuton tribes, and in a short time they 
all became Christians. 

Let us not forget that Christmas is the birthday of Jesus, and 
while we gather around the Christmas tree let us give our little 
hearts to Jesus as a Christmas present. He says to-day, “Give 
me thine heart.” If you will do this, he will give you in 
return a new sense of joy and peace that will not only shine 
through the Christmas season, but will remain with you 
throughout your earthly life. This would be a very fitting 


_ 


THE FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE 21 


time to give your heart to Jesus, while the angels are singing 
again the Bethlehem anthem, “Glory to God in the highest, and 
on earth peace, good will toward men.” Will you do this for 
your own sake, and for Jesus’ sake? 


22 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


2 


THE GREATEST BIRTHDAY 
PARTY OF ALL 


(Christmas) 
Rev. Wituram R. Taytor, D.D. 


Christmas is Jesus’ birthday, and the celebration of Christ- 
mas is his birthday party. And what a big one it is! If you 
‘lived in a grand house and had it full of children on your 
birthday, you would call it a large party, and it would be. 
But it would be very small beside Jesus’ birthday party. But 
suppose you could invite all the children in Rochester, and all 
the men and women, too, and all in the United States and 
Canada, and all in Europe, and lots and lots of the yellow 
people in China and Japan, and lots and lots-of the brown 
people in India, and lots and lots of the black people in Africa, 
and lots and lots more that we haven’t time to mention—what 
a party that would be! 

Well, that’s Jesus’ birthday party! All over the world the 
children and grown-up people come to it. It is certainly the 
greatest birthday party in the world. Why do so many, many 
people come to Jesus’ birthday party? There are so many 
reasons that it would take too long to tell them all, so we will 
just pick out one. What is it? It is because he was so kind. 
He was kind to the poor. Some people shrink away from 
the poor, especially if their clothes are ragged and dirty. When 
they see them, even poor little children, they turn their backs 
and perhaps hurry away and forget all about them. But Jesus 
was sorry for them, spoke kindly to them and did what he 
could to help them. He was always kind to the sick, too, and 
the blind, and the deaf, and the lame, and to people in trouble. 
He was very kind to children. He was the children’s Friend 
—he loved them and they loved him. Even when he was being - 
nailed to the cross he did not cry out in pain and anger against 


THE GREATEST BIRTHDAY PARTY OF ALL ~ 23 


those who were hurting him so, but prayed to his Heavenly 
Father to forgive them, saying, “Father, forgive them; they 
know not what they do.” 

There is no doubt about it that Jesus was the kindest person 
that ever lived on this earth. It is right that he should have 
the greatest birthday party in the world, and have it every year, 
don’t you think so? 

When you have a birthday, what do your parents do for 
your They give you presents, things they know you like 
and want, and, maybe, they give you a party, inviting your 
little friends. And then you play games, and last of all you 
have supper, with good things to eat. And—what is that 
that makes all the children’s eyes sparkle and makes all the 
children say, “Oh!” and “Ah!” and excites them so that they 
almost forget their manners and wriggle around in their 
chairs? Oh, that is the birthday cake, with little lighted 
candles stuck all around it, one for every year and an extra 
one to “grow on.’ And your parents do all this because 
they want you to be especially happy on your birthday. 

The person that has the birthday, then, is the person to be 
made happy, we think. Therefore, Jesus is the person to 
be made happy on his birthday, which is Christmas. But 
how can we make him happy? He is not here any more, 
and, if he were, he is so rich and great and our poor little’ 
gifts would not do him any good. 

But, listen! Here’s a great secret. (You can tell it, 
though.) He has told us how we can make him happy on 
his birthday, and other days, too. Now for the secret. Here 
it is. “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least 
of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” That’s what 
he said once. That is, “Whatever you do to make other 
people, even the smallest or the poorest of them, happy, I will 
count it as if you had done it to me, and I shall be happy too. 
When you are kind to others, you are kind to me. And I 
am with you, even though you cannot see me.” 

So, if we have the right spirit, we shall not be thinking 
too much about being made happy ourselves by things other 
people give us and do for us at Christmas, for it is not our 


24 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


birthday, but Jesus’ birthday. And he is the One to be made 
happy by each of us trying to make others happy. 

A little boy I once knew—he must be a man now, if he is 
alive—had had a very happy birthday. His parents had done 
a great deal for him. He had had his little friends, I guess, 
at a party. And now the day was done. The party was over. 
The friends had gone home, and he was tired enough, as every 
little boy and girl is at the close of a birthday. He was in 
his “nitey,” I suppose, and before getting into bed, he kneeled 
down to say his prayer. I don’t know all he said. Indeed, 
I only know one thing. He ended his prayer by saying, “And, 
dear Lord Jesus, I hope you have had a happy birthday, too.” 

Let us all plan to make this Christmas a happy birthday for 
Jesus in the only way we can do it—by making others happy. 


THREE CAMELS 25 


3 
THREE CAMELS 
(Christmas) 
Rev. Cuaupe AuLeEN McKay 


When you read Matthew’s story of the first Christmas, I 
think you will say that the most interesting callers to see the 
new-born King were the three strangers who came on camels. 
There are three points in the story of these three strangers 
which are so interesting that you have to read between the 
lines to get all the story in. 

The first is the starting point. Why do you suppose those 
three men, living in the Far East, ever decided to take a long 
journey over into Palestine to see a new-born King? I think 
you will have the answer to that question when you answer 
another question or two. Tell me, who tells the geese in the 
North to go South when autumn days come? Who is it whis- 
pers to the robin, the swallow, the thrush and the lark telling 
them to spend their winters in the sunny South? Who is it 
that tells the squirrel he ought to lay away some nuts and 
acorns for the winter? Who pulls millions of tons of water 
up on the seashore twice every day at a certain time, what we 
call ‘“‘the tide’? Perhaps the same wonderful Power whis- 
pered to the three strangers in the Far East and they decided 
to follow the new star and find the new-born King? God 
is here in this world, touching, leading, moving and molding 
more things, creatures and hearts than you and I have ever 
dreamed of. 

The second point in this story where I like to stop and 
watch the procession is where they reach Jerusalem. Can’t 
you see those camels winding their way through the narrow 
streets of old Jerusalem as the three strangers were hunting 
for the king’s palace? But why did they stop in Jerusalem 
instead of going straight to Bethlehem? That answer ts easy. 


26 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


They naturally expected to find the new-born King in the 
capital city and Jerusalem was the capital. If three strangers 
should come across the ocean to see our president, of course 
they would go straight to Washington, D. C. But notice what 
those three strangers asked. “Where is he that is born King 
of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and 
have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard 
these things, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him.” 
Isn't that part of the Christmas story a bit strange? Had 
the strangers knocked at the wrong door? Yes; and the 
knocking sounded loud because the king had a guilty con- 
science. If those three strangers had brought a lighted candle 
into a powder mill it would not have seemed any more fright- 
ful. The people hated the king and he returned the compli- 
ment. The king was afraid of the people because of the 
rights they might claim and the people were afraid of the 
king because of the wrongs he might commit. It was an 
extremely dangerous time and place for a baby King to be 
born. 

What did Herod do about it? Did he shut those strangers 
out and go off to bed to forget them? No, indeed! No, 
Herod may have been a villain, but he was not a fool. He 
was mean, but he was not ignorant. He knew that the 
Jews were expecting a Messiah King to be born, but he 
thought it was all bosh until now. Isn’t it queer how some 
people pay no attention to the promises and warnings in God’s 
Word until some day they see them being fulfilled, then they 
make a scramble to get in before the storm breaks, What 
did Herod do? He called the teachers of the old Jewish 
law and prophets and demanded of them where Christ was 
to be born. Could they tell him? Oh, yes, they knew the 
prophecy by heart. They told him Christ was to be born in 
Bethlehem, and they read to Herod the exact words of the 
prophecy. And don’t you imagine those teachers of Jewish 
prophecy almost tumbled over each other in their hurry to 
get to Bethlehem so that they might also worship their Messiah 
King that they had looked and hoped for so long? Well, 
if you think that is what they did, you are mistaken. They 


% 


THREE CAMELS ) Qn 


were very ready to teach the prophecy to others, to explain it 
and to argue about it, but they were not half so ready to 
turn their words into deeds. Those old Jewish Pharisees 
are dead and gone and perhaps we ought not to criticize 
them, but some day you will say, ‘Yes, the old Pharisees 
who were more ready to talk and argue about Christ than 
they were to get acquainted with him and worship him are 
dead, but, we are sorry to say, their places are never empty.” 
Don’t you find it easier to tell some other boy or girl how 
to be clean and honest and true than it is to be that way 
yourself? So the old Pharisees did the thing that was easiest 
instead of what was best. When you and I do that, we are 
Pharisees too. 

Herod sent the three strangers to Bethlehem, saying, “When 

you have found the young King, bring me word that I may 
go and worship Him also.” He knew he held the old Jewish 
teachers in his cruel clutch and he fooled the three strangers 
for a while with his lies, but there was One he could not 
fool. God knew his wicked heart as he knows all men’s 
thoughts and God frustrated Herod’s wicked plans. When- 
ever we do what is right we can count on God’s help, but 
when we do, or plan to do, what is wrong, we may ee 
to have God against us. 
_ Now, for one closing minute, let us stand by and see those 
three strangers when they reached the Baby King they had 
traveled so ser to find. They fell down and worshipped him. 
They scarcely knew why. Somehow they felt he must be 
King of kings and Lord of lords, and they were right. Then 
they opened their traveling bags and presented him with 
Christmas gifts. They never dreamed that hundreds and hun- 
dreds of years after that first Christmas we would be follow- 
ing their example by giving and receiving gifts at Christmas 
time. 

But why did the strange visitors give the Baby King such 
queer gifts? I den’t know. Some men have told us that 
one of the Wise Men presented gold because gold is always 
good, whether it is one year or a thousand years old, and 
it is always precious and is a rich reward to any one who 


28 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


finds it. And that is the way with Christ and his Gospel. 
The second Wise Man presented frankincense. Why? I don’t 
know. Some men tell us that frankincense was used in the 
burnt offerings of worship. They say it was presented to 
the Christ Child because he was to be worshipped by millions 
of people through ages and ages. The third Wise Man pre- 
sented myrrh. We are told that myrrh was used as a medi- 
cine to heal the diseases of the people. Was the stranger’s 
gift to stand for all those sick and blind people which Christ 
healed? That seems good enough to believe. Did it also 
hint that twenty centuries of Christian living would give us 
Christian-trained physicians and nurses to help sick folks of 
all kinds? Did his gift also hint that the Christ Child would 
some day be called “The Great Physician” because he heals 
sin-sick and broken hearts? I am glad the three strangers 
followed the star to Bethlehem, aren’t you? Let us make 
the journey, in our hearts, to Bethlehem to-day. 


HOLLY AND CHRISTMAS 29 


4, 
HOLLY AND CHRISTMAS 
(Christmas) 
Rev. James LEARMOUNT 


Christmas would seem very strange and poor without the 
dark green leaves and scarlet berries of the holly. The love 
of the “Christ-thorn,’ as it used to be called in the Peak 
district, is common to all sorts and conditions of men. Holly, 
as the name of a tree, is a corruption of Holy, or “Holy-tree,” 
a name first given by ancient monks, who made use of its 
berried branches for church decoration. According to the 
late Dean Stanley, the decoration of churches with holly is 
the survival of the old heathen custom of suspending boughs 
of green in dwelling-huts, in order that fairies, pixies, and 
spirits of the wood might find shelter in them. 

There is, however, another explanation which seems equally 
probable. Tradition says that the first Christian church in 
Britain was built of boughs, partly to attract and partly in 
imitation of the temples of Saturn, which were all erected 
under the oak-tree. The great feast of Saturn was held in 
December, and as then, of course, the oaks were without 
leaves, the priests compelled the people to bring in boughs and 
sprigs of evergreen. 

For myself, I fancy that mistletoe and holly were the only 
plants available at that time of the year for decorative pur- 
poses, and hence they were used as a matter of course. 

In “The Ballad of Aunt Mary,” written by that eccentric 
cleric and poet, dear to the hearts of all Cornishmen as the 
Vicar of Morwenstow, we have another idea. You should 
know that the term “Aunt” is one of great endearment in 
Cornwall, and that the ‘Aunt Mary” alluded to is the mother 
of our Lord. Here is one verse: 


30 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


“Now, of all the trees by the king’s highway, 
Which do you love the best? 

Oh! the one that is green on Christmas Day— 
The bush with the bleeding breast! 

Now the holly with drops of blood for me, 

For that is our dear Aunt Mary’s tree!” 


~ And the thought of the berries as “drops of blood” brings 
us very near the best reason why we think so much of the 
holly. It is commonly used as a symbol. The German name 
for the holly is Christdorn on the supposition that the Crown 
of Thorns was made from holly. It, at all events, reminds 
us of that, and of our Saviour who wore that crown for us. 
Let the thought make your hearts glad this Christmas-time. 

The holly is an evergreen, and the Scotch people on the 
borders when they speak of one who is always telling lies 
say, “He never lies but when the holly is green’—that is 
always! Think of that saying when you are tempted to say 
that which is untrue. The most despicable character is the 
person whose word cannot be depended on. 

For some time I lived in North London, close to a village 
called Holly Village. There were only eight or nine houses 
in the village, and they were surrounded by a thick hedge of 
holly. I had friends living in the village, and I never paid 
them a visit without feeling better for looking at that holly 
wall. It used to suggest two thoughts to me. One bright 
thought was this: I wish I could” be always fresh like this 
holly. Year in and year out it was green, fresh and restful. 
I always came away with new resolves to be one of God’s 
evergreens, always bright, always restful to those around me. 
The holy thought was in connection with the holly’s old name 
—holy. I used to imagine all sorts of beautiful things, and 
_ holy, pure, sweet people living within those holly walls. I 
thought of what might be in every house if Jesus, the Tree 
of Life, was their dear Friend. Once on leaving that village 
I had such a beautiful vision of the New Jerusalem, the city 


of God—the holy city—which comes down from heaven, and 


rejoiced in the fact that it was possible, if we got help from 
heaven, to make every home holy by being holy ourselves. 


oy 


- HOLLY AND CHRISTMAS 31 


Think about it, think what kind of boys and girls you would 
have to be in the holy city, and try to be those boys and girls 
of the holy city now. 

You remember how God put a hedge around Job. Not a 
hedge of holly—but himself. When we are holy, and living 
as God wants us to live, God becomes a hedge around us. 
He makes us stronger than temptation, and also strong to 
bless the world. That, after all, is the best hedge. Not the 
holly, not merely the symbols of his love, but he gives himself, 
and himself supplies all our need. 


32 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


9) 
THE MISTLETOE OF BETHLEHEM 
(Christmas) 
Rey. J. Ramsey Swain 
Text: “Kiss the Son.” Psalm 2: 12, 


I suppose that all our houses are decorated to-day with 
holly or laurel, with cedar or pine, or with mistletoe. The 
mistletoe, with its snowy white berries and its waxy green 
leaves, is the strangest Christmas emblem of them all; se 
I will explain, this Christmas morning, its Christmas use 
and its Christmas meaning. 

Our great-great-great-grandfathers, who lived across the 
sea in Northern Europe and in the British Isles, particularly 
in the latter, used to be worshippers of nature. Their gods 
were the sun and moon, the rivers and trees; and when they 
saw the mistletoe growing upon the limbs of the apple and 
hawthorn, and sometimes on the oak, they thought it so mys- 
terious that it must have some deep religious meaning, and, 
therefore, used it in their worship. Later, when they became 
Christians, they brought many of their old customs with them 
into their worship of Christ: and, like the Wise Men, who 
brought gold and frankincense and myrrh, they brought their 
mistletoe as an offering unto the Saviour. 

Moreover, these great-great-great-grand fathers of ours, par- 
ticularly those in Northern Europe, used to tell this story: 
Once, Liki, the God of the Ground, who was the mischief- 
maker, cut an arrow out of mistletoe, and persuaded blind 
Hodur, the God of the Night, to shoot Balder, the God of 
the Day. Thereupon, the mistletoe was taken away from 
Loki, the God of the Ground, and made to grow on the limbs 
of the trees, out of his reach. To celebrate this fact, our 
great-great-great-grandfathers used to gather the mistletoe in 


THE MISTLETOE OF BETHLEHEM 33 


the winter season and hang it from the ceilings of their homes, 
and whenever they met under it, they “gave each other the 
kiss of peace and love, in the full assurance that the mistletoe 
was no longer an instrument of mischief,” 

I. Now that I have told you these things, let us go together 
to Bethlehem, “and see this thing which has come to pass,” 
which interests all the world this Christmas Day. As we draw 
near the little town, I want you to notice especially the olive 
tree that is growing just at the entrance to a cave hard by 
the village inn. Outside the cave is a little donkey, eating 
straw from the ground; and inside there is a man and his 
wife from Nazareth, a group of shepherds, and (in a manger) 
a little baby boy. A‘s we stand outside and look in upon this 
lovely scene, notice that on the olive-tree bough that over- 
arches the entrance to the cave is a clump of mistletoe. Its 
leaves are greener than those of the mistletoe of England 
and America; and its berries, instead of being white, are 
reddish; but there can be no doubt that it is mistletoe; for 
mistletoe grows everywhere in the Holy Land, and particularly 
around Bethlehem. 

Now, going nearer to the entrance of the cave, and re- 
membering our custom of kissing any one beneath the mistle- 
toe, what shall we do? Shall we kiss the baby child? Yes, 
that is what we do with every baby; and an old Psalm bids 
us to kiss this baby, the Christ-child, in particular. I will ask 
you to find the Psalm for me when you go home. It is 
the first of the Messianic Psalms of the Bible; that is, it 1s 
the first Psalm that tells us about the Christ; and the last 
verse of the Psalm contains these words, which are our text, 
“Kiss the Son.” 

II. But do you still hesitate to kiss the Holy Child of 
Bethlehem, the Son of Heaven? You would not hesitate, 
if you knew just what the text means. Let me, therefore, 
explain it: 

In old Bible times, that is, in days long before those of 
our great-great-great-grandfathers across the sea, a kiss was 
a sign of service and worship. Thus we read that when dear 
old Samuel anointed big young Saul, the first King of Israel, 


34 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


“he kissed him,” as a sign of his willingness to obey and 
serve him. Again, we read that in the days of Elijah, many, 
many people of Israel became worshippers of Baal; but God 
told Elijah, his prophet, that there were yet seven thousand 
who had not bowed their knees to the false god, “nor kissed 
him” (that is, nor worshipped him). 

Understanding, then, what kissing the Son means, can we 
do anything else but obey the words of the old Psalm, and 
kiss the Christ-child, as he lies beneath the mistletoe-bough 
in Bethlehem? For unto us, as truly as unto Mary and Joseph, 
and the shepherds, long ago, “there is born this day a Saviour, 
which is Christ the Lord.” 

III. But here some one.asks me how we are to kiss the 
Son, when Bethlehem is nineteen hundred years away. I will 
tell you one way. Last week there was a terrible fire in our 
city, and several of our brave firemen were killed. One of 
them was a devoted member of this church, Mr. John Collins. 
He died in trying to rescue others, and to-day his wife and 
five children are to hold, instead of a Christmas festival, a 
Christmas funeral. The youngest child is a baby boy, born 
on Christmas Eve, one year ago; and this is what I read 
in the newspaper about him and his father: 

“The last act of his father before he left home was to 
kiss his little boy, and say to his wife, ‘We will have a good 
time when Saturday comes’ (the baby’s birthday); and when 
yesterday came, the brave father was gone, and to-day the 
little Christmas-eve baby boy and his mother and sisters are 
alone without him.” 

What I now want to propose is, therefore, that we have no 
Christmas candy on Wednesday afternoon or Friday evening, 
at our Christmas festivals; but that we ask the Sabbath School 
to send all the money that would have been spent for this 
candy to the mother for herself and her children; for, boys 
and girls, that will be “kissing the Son”; because Jesus says: 
“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye 
have done it unto me.” | 

Will you agree? If you will, come to the Bible School this 


THE MISTLETOE OF BETHLEHEM 35 


afternoon, prepared to say so; and bring the text of our ser- 
mon on “The Mistletoe of Bethlehem” with you. 

(The suggestion made was enthusiastically received and 
acted upon by Mr. Swain’s young hearers. ) 


36 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


6 
CHRISTMAS 
(Christmas) 

Rev. James LEARMOUNT 


The holidays have come round once more. The sentiment 
of the day is “Hurrah for Christmas!” It finds, I know, a 
responsive chord in the hearts of all boys and girls who have 
been doing their best at school since the summer holidays. 
The summer holidays are splendid, but Christmas! that is your 
time in particular. It is the children’s innings. And I am 
glad for your sake, and wish every hard-working boy and 
girl a good time. 

On Christmas eve I know you would like to keep your 
little eyes upon the fireplace in your bedroom; you would 
like to catch one glimpse of good Santa Claus with his long 
white beard, and his dear, kind old face, as he enters through 
that strange door and leaves behind him so many good things 
that you will be able to enjoy during all the long winter eve- 
nings, as the wind whistles outside and the fire roars cheer- 
fully up your chimney. But see to it that you don’t have 
a fire in your room on Christmas eve, whatever you do; that 
would be altogether too warm a reception for good Santa. 

I wonder what you know about Santa Claus. Your parents 
—some of them at all events—think that some of their chil- 
dren know too much. But Santa Claus was one of the oldest 
ideas of the Celtic West in pagan times, as he was of the 
pagan East before. In Christian times he was still regarded 
with religious reverence, sitting—as he had sat for ages in 
Egypt and elsewhere—in the arms of his mother. Santa 
Claus was, in fact, the Child Jesus in the Middle Ages; and 
throughout that period the festive creed of Germany, and 
all Celtic Europe, was that he visited all family dwellings 
of good Christians on the eve of his anniversary, and brought 


; 
+ 

7 

uy 
A 





“as : . 7) . 
Soo ee eer ve ee” ee — 


CHRISTMAS 37 


with him gifts and presents for the children, The truth of 
this original belief is seen in that the word “claus” means 
in the Gothic or ancient German, “Holy Child.” And that 
is the right idea for us now. We have not only our Christ- 
mas stockings filled, but we ourselves are filled with good 
things because Jesus Christ came into this world. I wonder 
if you grasp the fact; all things and all blessings and all powers 
are in the hands of Jesus. 

A’ story is told of the head master of a great public school. 
The boys knew him to be learned, but they thought him severe 
and hard-hearted, and much too strict. They deceived him 
as often as they could, and would use the books called  CEIDSy” 
which saved them study: They disregarded his lectures, and 
paid no more attention than they were obliged to pay to his 
orders. But one day a boy in the school was badly hurt in 
the playgrounds, and some one ran to tell the master. He 
came instantly, and sent one of the boys to fetch a doctor. 
While he waited for the doctor to come, he took the injured 
boy in his arms, tenderly bound up his wound, and comforted 
and cheered him. The boys looked on in wonder. They 
had never seen the master in that light before. “Why, he 
loves us!” one of the boys said in Amazement. From that 
time there was a different spirit in the school. The boys 
trusted him, respected him, and followed his instructions. 
They had come to believe in him. ; 

And that is what this glad time ought to do to us all with 
regard to Jesus. It ought to convince us of his love for us. 
Jesus came into the world, lived, died, and rose again, be- 
cause he loved us. And if Christmas is bright he made it so. 

I had a letter from a lady last Christmas, and in it she 
said: “Santa Claus was very good to Alec, brought him a tot 
of presents, but one book he particularly wanted Santa could 
not get, so he wrote such a funny little note, telling him he 
would send it later on. He has sent it on now. Alec had 
a new Bible, four story books, two drawing books, two boxes 
of sweets, a box with four tops, half a crown, the game of 
ping-pong, and right in the toe of his stocking was a pair 
of slippers. He has a special stocking, I ought to say; the 


38 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


foot is about twelve inches long and very wide, and such a 
leg—fit for Jack the Giant Killer. His uncle and aunt made 
it for him years ago, so I always have to wash it up for 
Christmas.’ There is a fine hint for you in that stocking. 
Stockings are so much better than pillow cases—they stretch. 
You, I have no doubt, will have a similar experience to that 
of my little friend Alec. And you will be just as happy over 
it. But do not forget that all God’s love to you is sent that 
you yourself may become like him, and may imitate his works, 
Sarah Keables Hunt has given us a sweet story-poem 
wherein she shows how all children may keep Christmas: 


“Two little stockings hung side by side,— 

Close to the fireplace broad and wide, 

‘Two?’ said Santa Claus, as down he came, 
Loaded with toys and many a game, 

‘Ho! ho!’ said he, with a laugh of fun, 

‘T’ll have no cheating, my pretty one! 

I know who dwells in this house, my dear, 
There’s only one little girl lives here.’ 

So he crept up close to the chimney-place, 
And measured a sock with a sober face. 

Just then a wee little note fell out, 

And fluttered low, like a bird about. 

‘Ah! what’s this?’ said he in surprise, 

As he pushed his specs up close to his eyes, 
And read the address in a child’s rough plan. 
‘Dear Santa Claus,’ so it began, 

‘The other stocking you see on the wall 

I have hung for a girl named Clara Hall. 

She’s a poor little girl, but very good, 

So I thought perhaps you kindly would 

Fill up her stocking, too, to-night, 

And help to make her Christmas bright. 

If you’ve not enough for both stockings there, 
Please put all in Clara’s. I shall not care.’ 
Santa Claus brushed a tear from his eye, 

And ‘God bless you, darling,’ he said with a sigh. 
Then softly he blew, through the chimney high, 
A note like a bird’s as it soars on high, 

When down came two of the funniest mortals 
That ever were seen this side of earth’s portals. 


CHRISTMAS 


‘Hurry up!’ said Santa Claus, ‘and nicely prepare 
All the little girl wants where money is rare.’ 
Then, oh! what a scene there was in that room, 
Away went the elves, but down from the gloom 
Of the sooty old chimney came tumbling low, 

A child’s wardrobe from head to toe. 

How Santa Claus laughed as he gathered them in 
And fastened one to the sock with a pin! 

Right to the toe he hung a blue dress, 

‘She will think it came from the sky, I guess.’ 
When all the warm clothes were fastened on, 
And both little socks were filled and done, 

Then Santa Claus tucked a toy here and there, 
And hurried away to the frosty air, 

Saying, ‘God pity the poor and bless the dear child 
Who pities them, too, on this night so wild!” 


39 


4.0 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


7 
WHEN THE DAYS TALKED TOGETHER 
(New Year) 
Rev. Georce N. Epwarps 
Psalm 19: 2. 


Did you ever hear of the days talking together? They do. 
You will find a place in the Bible where it mentions Tt 
line of the nineteenth Psalm says, “Day unto day uttereth 
speech.” But you never heard them talk? I don’t wonder 
for “their voice is not heard.” They use a kind of sign lan- 
guage. But you can hear murmuring of the seconds, and 
the whispering of the minutes, and now and then the hours 
speak real loud. Listen. Tick-tock, tick-tock four times a 
second. 

A clock is a kind of animated sign-post to tell us where 
To-day is. But Yesterday is hard to find though you can 
see his tracks everywhere. To-morrow is never seen, but is 
said to live just over the hills to the eastward. People have 
always been going that way to meet him. T’ll tell you a 
secret. ‘To-morrow will never be found because he has not 
been born yet. To-morrow seems to have a queer way of 
reaching people’s hearts. They are always saving things for 
him, for they feel sure he will come. They are always plan- 
ning for To-morrow whom they never see and leaving a great 
many things for To-morrow which ought to be done To-day. 

There is one time in the year when Yesterday, To-day and 
To-morrow all get together for a little talk. It is on New 
Year’s Eve, just about the time when the clock strikes twelve; 
and some time when your five senses are all asleep you can — 
hear and see them with your sixth sense. Did you know that 
you had a sixth sense? It is with this that you see things 
invisible, like goodness and love in other people or in God. 


WHEN THE DAYS TALKED TOGETHER At 


On New Year’s Eve in the wee small hours Yesterday, 
To-day and To-morrow met, and when I saw them I dis- 
covered that Yesterday was an old man with long, grey hair, 
and he bent over a long roll of paper on which he wrote with 

~an iron pen. To-day stood alert with eyes wide open and 

carried a watch in one hand, and beat time with the other. 
To-morrow was a little child, and his eyes were closed and 
in his hand he carried a rosebud. And all the world was 
asleep. 

Yesterday said, “I am Lord of the Past. All men that 
have ever lived have come under my sway. Every deed 
they have done, every word they have spoken is recorded in 
my book. Men may forget me, but they cannot escape me, 
for I know all their secrets. Their best and their worst are 
all recorded here.” 

“No,” said To-day: “You do not know what To-day can 
bring forth. I present a new chance every minute to every- 
body. With you are the dead, but within me are the living. 
I am Lord of the Present. Every moment I beat time with 
the heart beats of all that live. I can see clearly, and where 
I am it is always light. Men are always glad to see To-day.” 

“Yes, but gladder still because they hope for me,” cried 
little LTo-morrow. “What they regret because it was done 
badly yesterday, what they cannot finish to-day, they still 
hope to make good to-morrow. It is that, that keeps them 
alive with hope. I renew the race with my coming. I carry 
secrets that even Yesterday does not know. To-day is meas- 
ured by moments. No man can measure me, and yet I am 
always young. I am the true secret known only to God.” 

Then Yesterday lifted his eyes, and behold they were sight- 
less. “I bring man,” said he, “the gift of forgetfulness. He 
could not enjoy the present if he could not forget much of 
the past. I give him also a few leaves of memory, that out 
of my wisdom he may be wise to avoid the pitfalls where he 
has once fallen.” | 

“And I,” said To-day, “bring man the gift of opportunity. 
He lives with me, and all the joy or sorrow that he has, he 
received of me. In my presence he decides every question, 


42 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


and I alone bring him knowledge. Even when he looks for- 
ward or backward I am the eyes through which he looks. If 
he can forget thee, old man, he will be at peace.” 

“And I,” said To-morrow, “bring him hope, so that he can 
endure you To-day when you are not good to him. Though 
he cannot see me yet I touch his hands and he knows I am 
near, and he is willing to wait for me. I do not live with 
him as you do, but for my sake he lifts up his eyes and looks 
out of the windows of his life and sees in the sunset a promise 
of another morning. When his eyes are on the far horizon 
he sees the boundary of my world. Every bud I send him, 
every spring that comes, every child that is born speaks for 
me to him of the life that is to come. I am stainless, there- 
fore I inspire in him a love of purity.” 

Then came silence and the vision passed away, but I knew 
in the night watches that all the days had brought perishable 
and priceless gifts. Yesterday brings both memory and for- 
getiulness, To-day brings life and opportunity, To-morrow 
crowns this day with hope and links my life to eternity. 


MAKING BOLD BEGINNINGS 43 


8 
MAKING BOLD BEGINNINGS 
(New Year) 
Rev. W. H. Getstweir, D.D. 


Text: “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of 
the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in 
faith, in purity.” 1 Timothy 4: 12. 


A good start assures the promise of a good ending. A bad 
start leads away from a right ending. So the question of 
beginnings is always vital to young people. Will this road 
on which I am going lead me to a desired goal? Is there 
anything worth while at the end of this way? It should not 
be difficult to forecast the end of the way. There is a way 
that seemeth right, but the end thereof? True, but we should 
be able to determine between that which seems right and that 
which is right. And for this reason, there is scarcely a road 
which opens over which other feet have not gone. The paths 
before us are made paths. And the right path is not confus- 
ing if we are honest with ourselves. Right is right and wrong 
is wrong—always. 

The subject is a call to vigor. We shall not enter on the 
road in a listless spirit. I do not know a more needful thing 
to talk about. Wickedness is always bold and arrogant. It 
holds its head high. Virtue is inclined to be retiring, modest, 
and sometimes very slow. A lie travels a mile while truth 
is getting its boots on! True, neither should it be afraid to 
rise up in its conscious strength, and strike boldly for the 
right. Silence in the presence of wrong is criminal. I put 
it thus strongly, for too often are young people silent in the 
presence of evil when they should take a firm stand for God. 

In his letter to Timothy, Paul indicates some things in which 
the young man should be strong—an example. The things 


AA ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


he talks about are not ancient, but distinctly and decidedly 
modern. These five things should furnish us with much food 
for thought; speech, behavior, love, faith, purity. There 
isn’t a soft thing about them; every one of these character- 
istics will develop a strong, virile life. 

I. Speech. “Thy speech betrayeth thee.’’ Verily, it al- 
ways does. It tells the grammarian; it tells the thinker; it 
tells the “sport,’ and the “flirt.” Paul pleads for sound 
speech. “By thy words shalt thou be justified, and by thy 
words shalt thou be condemned.” ‘For every idle word that 
men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the 
judgment.’ All this means that we are talking into a dicta- 
graph, and that some day it will speak back to us. “Set a 
watch over my lips.” Let us make that prayer often. 

II. Behavior. Do not for a moment suppose that Paul is 
asking us to be sedate to the point of flatness. Never! But 
our behavior should be such as becometh the children of God. 
There need be no sin in our “good times.’”’ We do not need 
to do risqué things in order to give snap and piquancy to 
life. Whenever you hear men say that the times cannot be 
run on Sunday School lines you may know that they are 
pleading for lines of action that will not bear daylight. They 
insult their times and the Sunday School. Morality is moral- 
ity—everywhere, whether in a Sunday School or a political 
meeting; and that which is not fit for a Sunday School is not 
fit for any other place in the face of the-earth. Let your 
behavior be such as becometh the children of God; and any 
other behavior is unfit for you and for everybody else. 

III. Love. It seems to me that what Paul means here 
is really sacrifice; for love is not the getting of anything, but 
the surrender of self to the life of the world. It takes us 
a long while to learn this, but we should begin to learn it 
now. If one desires to know the genuineness of his love 
he can discover it by his willingness to sacrifice. It is the 
greatest thing because it is the sum of all worth-while things. 
Love is the enduring quality of human character. “Its holy 
flame forever burneth.” 

IV. Faith. It is the orthodoxy of life, and not the or- 


MAKING BOLD BEGINNINGS 45 


thodoxy of statements, that Paul has in mind here. Just 
now the “faith” of the world is widely shaken. It is useless 
to deny it, or to close one’s eyes to it. We have fought 
many battles over the orthodoxy of creeds; and we have 
counted a man “sound” or “unsound,” according to the things 
he said. Let us learn at the beginning of life that there is 
an orthodoxy of life that cannot be too much insisted upon. 
Your conduct makes such a noise that I cannot hear what 
you say with your lips! What, then, is the faith we need? 
The faith that makes faithful; the faith that makes us do 
right as well as think right. Before we consider a man’s 
intellectual position we may well consider his faith as ex- 
pressed in his daily life. The faith that does not shrink is 
only found in the life that does not yield to wrong. 

V. Purity. Perhaps this sums them all—all the virtues 
Paul is urging upon Timothy, and through Timothy upon all 
the world. It is a searching topic, this.’ And the spirit with 
which these things are entered into will determine the out- 
goings of life. “Actively good” is the need among God’s 
people to-day. The examination of the underground founda- 
tion of our “faith” in these days cannot fail to do us good, 
if we shall squarely and honestly face the issues that are in- 
volved. Some of us need to be made over—to be born again, 
before we shall see what the gospel really means. Then let 
us submit to the work of the Spirit, to the transformation 
of the whole of life that shall hasten the completer sway a 
the kingdom of God. 


~ 


46 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


9 
GOD’S REPAIR SHOP 
(New Year) 
Rev. ALFRED Barratr 
Text: “He repaireth my soul.” Psalm 23:3. 


Some one has said that New Year’s Day is a good time 
to make good resolutions; and the other 364 days are good 
times to keep them. That is very true, but we shall need 
strength—and courage and grace—and faith in God if we 
are going to keep those good resolutions, 

Have you resolved yet what you are going to do in the 
coming year? There are many things in the past year which 
you ought to have done, but you did not do them; and you 
did many things which now you wish you had never done. 
You made many serious blunders and spent many unhappy 
days; but now the year has gone, and all those mistakes are 
still in your memory. 

Have you ever read that peculiar and yet very interesting 
story in the “Arabian Nights’? It is a story without an 
ending. The king demanded a story of this character from 
his courtiers. The one who succeeded in telling such a story 
was promised the king’s daughter in marriage; but the un- 
successful ones were to have their heads cut off. Many of 
the courtiers brought their interesting stories to the king, 
but they were stories that could be told to a finish, so that 
when their tales were ended their heads were cut off. One 
day a handsome, bright young courtier, eager and anxious 
to marry the king’s daughter, came into the king’s palace and 
began to tell a story of a farmer who had a tremendous heap 
of grain which would take hundreds of years to remove. It 
was beautiful to look upon. One day a little black locust 
came there and carried one grain away, then there came an- 


GOD’S REPAIR SHOP 47 


other locust and carried another grain away, and another 
locust came and carried another grain away, then another 
locust came and carried another grain away— So he recited 
this for many days, until the king became weary and tired 
of listening to the story, and ended the recital by giving this 
handsome young courtier his daughter in marriage. It was 
certainly a delightful ending for this clever courtier, and 
doubtless his joys were unending. | 

Another year has just gone. Old Father Time has been 
taking away grain after grain of the year—the months, the 
weeks, the days, the hours, the minutes, and even the seconds. 
He has been taking them all. I wonder if this story that 
your life has told during the past year has deserved the ad- 
miration and acceptation of King Jesus? I am rather afraid 
that there are many things that you have said and done that 
make you feel miserable when you think of them, and you 
would be happy if you could only forget them—yea, and hap- 
pier if they had never been done. If you could only tell 
your story there would be many mistakes and many mis- 
givings. Many words have escaped your lips that never 
ought to have been said. Many a stain has come on your 
character, many a sin has blotted the pages, and many times 
has your disobedience spoiled your happiness and filled the 
days with sorrow. What a story it would be—and what a 
record! Well, what are you going to do with this disfigured 
and impaired record? A're you going to carry it over into 
the next year and live another impaired life and tell another 
wretched story? Let us hope not. Failure in the past does 
not mean failure in the future. Let us begin over again and 
make better use of the new opportunities that the New Year 
is bringing us. ) 

I know of a place where our impaired lives can be repaired. 
It is God’s repair shop, where all the broken things of life 
can be mended, a place where we can go and be made whole 
again, and then go out into the world ready to toil for the 
good of our companions. God is the great soul-repairer. 
David knew this when he said, “He restoreth my soul.” That 
word restoreth means “‘repaireth.” 


48 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


I once saw in a shoemaker’s window these words, “Old 
shoes made as good as new.’”’ The shoemaker’s shop is a 
place of repair. I know this is a commonplace illustration, 
but it serves my purpose. Now, the real repair shop that I 
want to tell about is in the presence of God, where Jesus 
himself is the great repairer. When Jesus came into this 
world of ours he came to show man that God could make us 
whole. He came to seek and to save the lost and broken 
lives of boys and girls and of men and women. Some have 
broken wills, they are like broken propellers, or should I say 
like broken automobiles? Others have broken hearts, broken 
hands of faith, broken resolutions, broken prayer power, 
broken cisterns, and even broken chords. God is in his re- 
pair shop and is binding up and repairing all these wrecks 
of time and helping them to produce once more life’s sweetest 
music. I want all the boys and girls to frequent this place 
of repair. It is the place of prayer where God is waiting 
our souls to repair. Just one word more. God loves the 
children, and he is waiting to help you be better and to do 
better. He wants you to be like Jesus. Trust in him, love 
him, live for him, and some day you will live with him. 
Begin now, just now, and make this year the very best year 
of all your life. 


| 


ABOUT GOOD INTENTIONS 49 


10 
ABOUT GOOD INTENTIONS 
(New Year) 
Rev. G. B. F. Hattocx, D.D. 


Text: “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of 
salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6: 2. 


Little Dot was drawing a picture with pen and ink on a 
paper. It turned out to be a cat without a tail. 

‘““Where’s the tail?’ asked the mother. 

She looked puzzled for a moment, and then replied: “Why, 
it is in the ink bottle yet!” 

Many of our good intentions are like that. They are in 
the ink bottle yet. They are only in the mind. They are 
not yet definitely carried out. 

This may be true in regard to the greatest thing in life. 
_ We each intend to become a Christian. But, let us not for- 
get that now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salva- 
tion. Now is the time to carry out our good intentions. 
This moment is the time to begin. 

Young people, we sincerely hope that you have already ac- 
cepted Christ as your Saviour and Lord. But if any one 
has been putting it off, only intending to do so, then this 
little sermon is intended as an earnest appeal to you to carry 
out your good intentions now. 


50 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


~ 


11 
A NEW ROAD 
(New Year) 


Rev. ALFRED Barratt 


TEXT: “Ye have not passed this way heretofore.” Joshua 3: 4.. 


As we enter the new year we are coming into a new road. 
We are beginning over again. Every new year is a new be- 
ginning. Every new day is a new beginning. Every new 
lesson and every new task is a new beginning. When God 
made the world, he made it this way on purpose, so that 
we could have new beginnings. The journey of life would 
become a tedious, tiresome, monotonous round if there were 
no new beginnings, no new changes—no strange surprises at 
every corner of the road. So in order to make the journey 
of life interesting, and also to make life worth living, God 
has filled the world with new things—new beginnings—and 
countless surprises to be discovered by us when we go out 
in search for them. 

When they are ready to launch a new boat at Noank they 
have a special man delegated to knock out all the blocks from 
underneath her, and then 


“She stirs, she moves, she seems to feel 
The thrill of life along her keel.” 


Now this is just what Old Father Time does every New 
Year’s morning. He removes all the blocks. He clears the 
way. He removes every hindrance, and gives us the right 
of way on the new road of the glad new year. So now we 
have come to a new road, a new beginning, and some of us 
have made a fresh start from bad to good, and from good 
to better. 

But this is not enough. Let us make a fresh start from 


A NEW ROAD 51 


better to best. Let us strive to do something each day, some 
good deed that we have never done before. If we fill every 
day of the coming year with good thoughts, good deeds, and 
good words our life will most assuredly be well pleasing in 
God’s sight. : 

An Arabian tradition tells of a prince who after wasting 
his substance in riotous living was led in a vision to dig up 
the floor of his room, and on doing so discovered a strange 
apartment. In this apartment he found an urn, and when 
he opened the urn he discovered a key. This key gave him 
a desire to find the lock belonging to this key. After search- 
ing around the walls for a while he found a secret door in 
the wall, and with the key he opened the door and was sur- 
prised to find that it opened into another chamber containing 
eleven statues of pure gold, and a pedestal for a twelfth, with 
an inscription bidding him to search for the remaining statue. 
This is only tradition, but is it not true that there is always 
a radiant discovery awaiting those who are willing to go and 
explore for the things that God has hidden from “the wise 
and the prudent and revealed even unto babes’? Jesus said, 
“They that seek me early shall find me.” There is a golden 
opportunity for every boy and girl to go out and seek with 
the purpose of finding. 

You remember Jesus sought Zaccheus while Zaccheus was 
seeking Jesus, and they both found each other. While you 
are seeking Jesus, Jesus is seeking you. If you have not yet 
commenced to seek the “Lord while he may be found,” begin 
the quest to-day, and when you have found him, and made 
him your choice the new year will be the best and the happiest, 
and the most fruitful that you have ever known. This is 
my new year’s wish to all the boys and girls: 


“May the best of your past 
Be the worst of your future” 


as you travel along the new road of the coming new year. 


52 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


12 
WATCH YOUR STEPS 


(New Year) 
Rev. G. B. F. Hattocx, D.D. 


Text: “Tf thy children take heed to their way.” 1 Kings 224 


An interesting speaker related recently, in an effective ad- 
dress, that at the subway stations in New York a man was 
placed whose business it was to repeat “Watch your step,” 
as passengers were coming to and passing from trains, for 
a misstep might mean a serious accident if not certain death. 
This man receives a good salary for the performance of the 
simple but important duty. 

Many an accident might be prevented by watching one’s 
step. It is a true saying that it is “the first step that costs.” 
Why? Because many persons have been started on the road 
to ruin by carelessness in taking the first step. A'fter the 
first step downward is taken it is much easier to take the 
second, third, and so on. The cost of the first step is diffi- 
cult to estimate, because so many individual interests are 

- involved. 

Is not that a good lesson for us all? How important it 
is that we watch our steps, especially when we are tempted 
to go to a wrong place or do a wrong thing. Don’t make a 
misstep. Don’t take a hasty, thoughtless step. Don’t take 
a wrong step. Watch your steps. 


NEW YEAR’S DAY 53 


13 
NEW YEAR’S DAY 
(New Year) 
Rev. Bernarp J. Snerzi, M.A. 


Another year is born to-day. It has come fresh from 
heaven, from God himself, who gives us life and all that 
makes life dear to us. It is quite new; no eyes ever saw it 
before, and it is our own to use and spend. 

The old year died last night. It lived longer than most 
years do, for it was 366 days old when it died, and that is a 
long time to keep constant watch over the world. It saw 
us all that time. It saw you go to school, it saw you play, 
it saw you grow, it noticed that all of you wore longer coats 
and dresses than when it knew you first. Some, who were 
here when it came, have gone home to the world that is with- 
out years; and it saw bodies that they left behind buried, 
some under the snow and some under the grass with daisies 
in it. And some are in the world to-day who were not here 
this time last year—your tiny little brother or sister. And 
when the old year died last night, while you were asleep, its 
little son was born; and the new year’s name is almost the 
same as the old year’s name, , 1s not so very different 
from ,is it? No, for of course they belong to the same 
family, and, when the family name is written quite in full, 
there are these two letters at the end, A. D., which mean that 
it is just so long since the dear Lord Jesus Christ came to 
earth. His birthday you kept on Christmas Day. 

So we all have a fresh start to-day. Are you not glad at 
school when you have a new book instead of the old one? 
The old book’s pages were smudged, and blotted, and dog- 
eared, and torn. You felt it was disheartening to write your 
best in that book, but you mean to take great care of the 
clean new book. That is just what our Father God, who 








54 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


has given us this new year, wants us to do with the 365 clean, 
white days which the year holds in it. And we.can all of 
us improve on the past, if we try, can we not? 

I know a little girl, who came down to breakfast and whis- 
pered a secret into her mother’s ear: “Mother dear, I'll tell 
you a secret, I’m not going to be cross once to-day.” That 
was a very pretty secret. An angry, disagreeable person 
makes other people unhappy; yes, and makes it very difficult 
for any one to love him. Make up your mind that you will 
be sweet-tempered and unselfish and kind, so that it shall be 
easy for your home-folk to be in love with you, 

Iam sure that you will try always to speak the truth, for 
a story-teller is a liar, and a liar is despised by everybody. 
Never, never be such a coward as not to tell the whole truth. 
You need never be ashamed of the truth, unless you have done 
something really wrong, and then it is still best to tell the 
whole truth, although it is a great pity that you should have 
done anything that makes you ashamed. So we must try 
our hardest, our very hardest, to do only good and kind things. 
In the old times the knight, who was going to fight for truth 
and the right, passed a whole night kneeling, alone, clad in 
his armor, asking God to help him. We all need God to 
help us, and he helps us most when we pray to him. 

A year looks a long time to young eyes. It looks like a 
long voyage over leagues of unknown seas. When a ship 
starts on a journey, she always carries a compass to show the 
right direction,.and a chart to show where the dangerous 
rocks lie, and where the safe channels are, and a captain to 
see that all is right on board. 

I wonder if you can guess my riddle. God has given to 
each of us a compass, a chart, and a Captain, so that we may 
not lose our way as we speed over the seas of life. But we 
must notice the compass, and use the chart, and obey the 
Captain. 


THE YEAR’S RECORD 55 


14 
THE YEAR’S RECORD 
(New Year) 
Rev. James LearmountT 


Columbus, when he was homeward bound after that won- 
derful voyage when he discovered the new world, was over- 
taken by a terrible storm. He suffered indescribable agony, 
not because he feared to lose his life or the lives of his crew, 
but he was afraid that his magnificent discovery of a new 
world would all go down irrecoverably into the abyss, and that, 
too, not far from land. He therefore hurriedly committed 
to the deep entries of his discovery, in bottles, in the hope that 
some day they might reach land. He had made a splendid 
record, and he didn’t want it to be lost. 

I have been wondering whether many of us care to have 
our record of this year preserved. I believe that most of us 
would be exceedingly glad to lose much of our record. Many 
things we have said and done that have not been right. 

A German writer records for us a dream he had. In his 
dream he saw a long procession of men and women passing 
by his window, and upon looking more closely he was startled 
to find that those men and women were companions of his 
childhood. They appeared all to be respectable, and to have 
done very well in life. He himself was old, infirm, diseased, 
and his whole life had been wasted, until now he was a com- 
plete wreck. In an agony of despair he cried out: ‘“O God, 
give me back my youth!” and in his terror he awoke—it was 
but a dream! He was still young, his life was yet before 
him, and he resolved to live that life better than he had com- 
menced it. His life might have ended like the great poet’s 
who wrote on his thirty-sixth birthday: 


56 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


“My days are in the yellow leaf, 

The flowers and fruits of love are gone; 

The worm, the canker, and the grief 
Are mine alone.” 


Thankful I am that you boys and girls are still young, with 
your life-work all before you. 

It is not too late to correct your mistakes, and begin your 
lives on right lines—lines of truth and righteousness. 

Do not continue sowing seeds that will provide you future 
misery. Tom Hood in his poem “The Lady’s Dream,”’ tells 
how this lady saw a long ghostly procession of people that 
in her life she might have befriended. Her heart was full 
of sorrow and agony as she saw how much she might have 
done to help and bless them. Then she is made to say: 


“And yet it never was on my soul 

To play so ill a part; 

But evil is wrought by want of thought, 
As well as by want of heart.” 


I daresay many of the undesirable things you have said 
and done during the year that is almost gone, have been done 
in the same way. God will forgive you for all your mistakes 
and sins if you ask him. | 

But you have many things that you would be glad to have 
preserved—kindnesses shown, loving words spoken, helpful 
deeds done—these bring sweet memories to you. When 
Christian had accomplished his weary journey across the hill 
Difficulty, and was at length safe inside the gates of the Palace 
Beautiful, he was asked by Prudence, “Do you not think 
sometimes of the country from whence you came?” And 
Christian had indeed such memories. They were his constant 
sorrow. He had struggled hard to get the better of them. 
Prudence then said: “But do you not feel sometimes as if 
those things were vanquished which at other times are your 
perplexity?” “Yes,” answered Christian, “and they are to 
me golden hours when such things happen.” 

What things were a joy to Christian? The good things. 
These are our joy also. And I want you to think of all the 


THE YEAR’S RECORD 57 


good things you have done, and the days when you have 
been good during the past year. When you have looked back 
and made notes of these, ask yourself whether a whole year 
and a whole life of such deeds would not be worth striving 
for. 

When St. Boniface landed in England, he came with the 
Gospel of Jesus in one hand and a carpenter’s rule in the 
other, and while he led the people to build up good houses, 
he also led them to build up glorious lives. Everything done 
by him was done as to the Lord. What a grand way that 
is to live—it is the best life possible for any of us. How 
much better it is to live in that way than to come to say 
such miserable things as the poet I spoke about a minute ago. 
Take the golden hours and project them all into next year 
as a standard for all your hours. 

Titus, a heathen Roman Emperor, used to examine himself 
every day as to what he had accomplished. If a day slipped 
by without his having redressed some wrong, or without 
doing some good thing, he used to say to his courtiers, “Alas! 
I have lost a day.’”’ Whatever you see, or hear, see to it 
that you get all the good out of it that is possible, and when 
you see opportunities for usefulness, never hesitate to use 
them. 


“Something each day—a smile; 
It is not much to give, 

And the little gifts of life 
Make sweet the days we live. 

The world has weary hearts 
That we can bless and cheer, 

And a smile for every day 
Makes sunshine all the year. 


‘ “Something each day—a word; 
We cannot know its power, 
It grows in fruitfulness 
As grows the gentle flower. 
It brings the sweetest peace 
Where all is dark and drear! 
For a kind word every day 
Makes pleasant all the year. 


58 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


“Something each day—a deed 
Of kindness and of good, 
To link in closer bonds 
All human brotherhood. 
Oh, thus the Heavenly will 
We all may do while here; 
For a good deed every day 
Makes blessed all the year.” 


DO NOT ENTER HERE 59 


15 
DO NOT ENTER HERE 
(New Year) 


Rev. Craupe ALLEN McKay 


As I hurried down the subway in the city, I noticed a sign 
hanging across the stairway, in big letters, DO NOT ENTER 
HERE. The first thought which came into my mind said 
something like this, “Well, how foolish! Wasn’t this sub- 
way made to enter? And what is a stairway good for if 
you can’t enter it?’ But, tagging along behind the first 
thought, a second thought came. It is a pretty good thing to 
wait for the second thought, when you are in doubt about 
what you ought to do, because our second thoughts are older 
and wiser than our first thoughts. As soon as I was ready 
to listen that second thought said something like this to me, 
“Say, young fellow, if you want to get where you have started 
to go and keep out of trouble, you had better obey the signs 
you see. These signs were not put here to hinder you but 
to help you.” 

What do you think I did? I did just what you would 
have done. I backed out of that forbidden stairway, and 
when I saw another with a sign over it which said, ENTER 
HERE, I entered. And you are not surprised when I tell 
you that I arrived where I wanted to go, in good time, with- 
out trouble to myself or anybody else. 

Did you know you were on the way to that same city where 
you will have the same kind of an experience? The name 
of the city is Nineteen Hundred and and if you will 
look at the calendar you will see that we are to arrive at 
that city in a very few days. You will make 365 trips and 
every day you will face that subway with its two stairways. 
Over one stairway will be the sign, DO NOT ENTER HERE; and 





60 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


over the other will be a sign, saying, ENTER HERE. You will 
have to decide. 

The very first Monday morning after New Year, when 
you come to the school yard, you will be facing those two 
stairways. You can look down the street which leads to 
Truantville. It may look very inviting. (A hunter always 
makes his trap look inviting to the game he wants to catch.) 
But if you should go down that way, you will soon see a 
sign which says, DO NOT ENTER HERE. Yes, you will see 
it written on the faces of men and women, who took that 
road when they were boys and girls. In language that is 
very plain, their disappointed faces say, “DO NOT ENTER HERE. 
I thought it was the easiest way to take but it has proved 
to be the hardest. I thought it would take me where I wanted 
to go but I find I have taken the wrong road.” 

But, 1f you will look toward your school house door, you 
will see a sign which says, ENTER HERE. If that is not 
what the school house door says, the men of your city, who 
have spent so much money to build that school and pay 
teachers to help you get your education, have made a mistake. 

Some other day after New Year’s, some boy you know 
will take you by the arm and start to lead you down the stair- 
way to Cigaretville, but if you will look all around carefully 
you will see somewhere that sign, Do NOT ENTER HERE. 
On one side of the road leading to Cigaretville, Bob Burdette 
once wrote this sign, “A' boy who smokes cigarettes is like a 
cipher with the rim knocked off.” And David Starr Jordan, 
the President of Leland Stanford University, put up this 
sign on the same road, “Boys who smoke cigarettes are like 
wormy apples. They drop long before the harvest. The 
boy who begins smoking cigarettes before he is fifteen will 
never enter the life of the world as a man. He may enter 
as a miserable, foolish failure. When other boys are study- 
ing and taking hold of the world’s work, he will be in the 
hands of a neice or an undertaker. When you see a boy 
drawing the poisons of the cigarette down into the 72 5,000,- 
ooo delicate air cells of his ane you may be sure he is pre- 
paring the way for all kinds of lung and throat troubles. A 


DO NOT ENTER HERE 61 


lighted cigarette has a fire on one end and a fool on the 
other.” I could tell you many more of the signs posted on 
that road but what is the use; you won't take a road that the 
wisest men tell you leads to failure. 

One day a business man advertised for a boy. Many boys 
applied for the position because there were lots of boys in 
_ that community who needed to work after school hours and 
on Saturdays to help them through school. Finally the busi- 
ness man took one of the boys. One of the business man’s 
friends asked him one day why he selected this boy. And 
this was his answer: “He wiped his feet on the mat when he 
came in and closed the door after him. He gave his seat to 
a lame old man who came into the office. He waited quietly 
for his turn, instead of pushing and crowding. When I 
talked with him, he took off his cap and answered my ques- 
tions promptly and gentlemanly. I noticed that his clothes 
and shoes were clean, and his hair in order. When he wrote 
his name I noticed there were no cigarette stains on his fingers 
and his finger nails were clean.” 

Just think how many times that boy has come to a stair- 
way with a sign over it, DO NOT ENTER HERE, and he obeyed 
the signs. Then, when he came to a stairway where his father 
or mother or teacher or some other good friend had written, 
ENTER HERE, he entered; and you are not surprised to know 
that he arrived where he wanted to go. 

The part of Nineteen Hundred and which belongs 
to you is like a long train of 365 cars with you as the 
engineer. There are open switches and dangerous curves 
ahead but if you watch closely and obey the signs and sig- 
nals, you will pull your train into the city which is called, 
Nineteen Hundred and on time and safe and happy. 
A' Happy New Year! 








62 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


16 
OUR TRUEST RICHES 
(New Year) 
Rev. Currie Martin, M.A. 


Text: “Redeeming the time.” Ephesians 5: 16. 


“Use time wisely.” These words stand high up in a tower 
above one of the busiest streets of a great northern city. 
Underneath them is the dial of an uncommon clock. There 
are two circles alongside one another. In the first of these, 
in clear figures, is displayed the hour. In the other are the 
figures that denote each minute. And as one watches it, the 
one, two, three, four, etc., succeed each other in regular suc- 
cession. The first time I saw it, the thought occurred to 
my mind very forcibly, how long a minute is. I was sur- 
prised to find how far I could walk along the street between 
the appearance of one of these figures and the next. It was 
a very noteworthy manner of impressing on one’s mind how 
frequently we waste our time. 

Perhaps you have all been impressed with it on certain 
occasions. You may have stood with a watch in your hand 
trying to time a race, or to see how long elapsed between a 
flash of lightning and the subsequent peal of thunder. It 
may have seemed to you then as if even seconds were long, 
and when we read in certain sciences about seconds being 
divided up into millionth parts our brain becomes dizzy at the 
thought of the enormous length of time. 

But the more common idea is of time’s shortness. I sup- 
pose this becomes more and more noticeable the older we 
get. When we are quite little the hours seem long, and a 
summer day is like a week. But even children, when they 
are happy, think that time flies too quickly. There is one 
phrase people use sometimes which always appears to me one 


OUR TRUEST RICHES 63 


of the worst and, if they really meant it, most sinful phrases 
one could use. They speak about “killing time’ as if time 
were some enemy, some evil beast that had to be slain, and 
these are the people who have least to do, and who make the 
worst possible use of the time at their disposal. 

As a matter of fact, time is one of God’s most precious 
gifts, and, like his other gifts of highest value, it is common 
to every one. Time is the same everywhere, and we have 
all the same length of day, hour, and minute; wherever there 
may be inequality, there is perfect fairness and adequate 
opportunity here, and it altogether depends upon the way in 
which we use our time as to how we are going to manage 
our life. Time is far too precious a gift to abuse it. I 
daresay you have often heard people say, ‘Time is money,” 
but have you ever thought what they mean by it? Some one, 
for instance, has been kept waiting half an hour by an un- 
punctual friend. To the latter it may not have seemed a 
matter of importance whether he was there in time or not, 
but to the former that half-hour may have meant the missing 
of an important business that would have brought him a 
large sum of money. Or again, a physician who has been 
summoned down into the country to attend some serious case 
of illness charges a large fee for his services. People may 
think it is very hard that he should do so, but during the ten 
or twelve hours occupied in the journey he may have missed 
scores of consultations that might have brought him in a far 
larger sum. 

It is this kind of idea that is in Paul’s mind when he uses 
the words of the text. Ephesus was a great mercantile city, 
and into this mart poured all the produce of the East and 
West. Sometimes bales of rich silk or other special fabrics 
might come on board the ships into the harbor. These would 
be displayed, and only the merchants who could make up 
their minds speedily would secure the rich prizes, and be 
enabled to reap the subsequent profit. Those who dallied 
with the chance, and delayed their purchase from day to day, 
would find that when at last they decided to buy, either that 


~ 


64 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


the goods were gone, or that those that were left were not 
worth purchasing. 

“You have seen these men,’ Paul says, “and you under- 
stand how success and failure attend them. Let it be the 
same with you in regard to the time. Buy up every possible 
opportunity, and let none escape.” 

I know one great castle in the south of England, and on 
its entrance tower there are two sun dials. The one that faces 
the approach has upon it the one Latin word, “Praetereunt,” 
meaning, “They have passed by,” and refers to the hours 
that the dial has measured. Then, as one comes up to the 
flight of stairs that leads to the hall, the other dial upon the 
right hand bears the word “Imputantur,” “They are reckoned 
up,’ thus reminding every one who enters that the hours 
one has lived have their chronicle with God. It is a solemn 
lesson to be taught so forcibly, and impresses at any rate 
the casual visitor. One wonders whether it becomes so fa- 
miliar to those who live within the roof of the castle that 
they do not even notice the words as they go out and in at 
the door. 

It is possible to become so familiar with danger that men 
forget it altogether, and we may become so familiar with 
truths like this that they do not impress us, I daresay we 
have all done our best to save our money in order to get 
something we desired very much. How many times we have 
counted it, how often we tried to discover by the very process 
of counting that we had a shilling more than the sum we 
knew very well was the correct one. Yet time is of infinitely 
more value than all the money we can ever get. Some men 
are so rich that we read about their being worth so many 
pounds a minute; but in reality every one’s minutes are worth 
far more than can be reckoned in the terms of earthly cur- 
rency. In reality our time is not ours at all, but God’s. He 
gives it to us, and it is a trust we hold for him. You re- 
member the kind of stories Jesus used to tell about the rich 
men who left their property in the hands of their servants 
while they went away on a long journey. On their return 
they were wont to demand an account of the stewardship, 





OUR TRUEST RICHES 65 


and if the reckoning was not satisfactory the careless ones 
-were punished. There is no talent more precious, as there 
is none more universal, than this talent of time. If it is 
true that in order to take care of our money and be able to 
use it well, we must begin to learn its value, and be trusted 
with a certain amount of it when we are children, it is even 
more true of time. I wish you boys and girls to think seri- 
ously, act wisely, and pray earnestly about this great and 
wonderful gift of God. 


66 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


17 
THE PONY ENGINE 
Rev. G. B. F. Harttock, D.D. 


Text: “T can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me.” 
Philippians 4: 13. 


Once upon a time a little freight car loaded with coal stood 
on the track in a coal-yard. 

The little freight car waited for an engine to pull it up 
the hill and over the hill and down the hill on the other side. 

Over the hill in the valley people needed the coal on the 
little freight car to keep them warm. 

By and by a great big engine came along, the smokestack 
puffing smoke and the bell ringing, “Ding! Ding! Ding!” 

“Qh, stop! Please stop, big engine!” said the little freight 
car. “Pull me up the hill and over the hill and down the 
hill, to the people in the valley on the other side.” 

But the big engine said, “I can’t, I’m too busy.” And 
away it went—Choo! Choo! Choo! Choo! 

The little freight car waited again a long time till a smaller 
engine came puffing by. : 3 

“Oh, stop, dear engine, please stop!” said the little freight 
car. But the engine puffed a big puff and said, “I can’t, 
you're too heavy.” Then it went, too—Choo! Choo! Choo! 

“Oh, dear!” said the little freight car, “what shall I do? 
The people in the valley on the other side will be so cold 
without any coal.” 

After a long time a little pony engine came along, puffing 
just as hard as a little engine could. 

“Oh, stop! dear engine, please stop and take me up the 
hill and over the hill and down the hill to the people on the 
other side,” said the patient little freight car. 

The pony engine stopped right away and said, ‘You’re 


” 


THE PONY ENGINE 67 


very heavy and I’m not very big, but I think I can. I'll try. 
Hitch on!” | 

All the way up the hill the pony engine kept saying, “I think 
I can, I think I can, I think I can!’ quite fast at first. 

Then the hill was steeper and the pony engine had to pull 
harder and go slower, but all the time it kept saying: “I 
think-I-can! I[-think-I-can!’” till it reached the very top with 
a long puff—*Sh-s-s-s-s!”” 

It was easy to go down the hill on the other side. 

Away went the happy little pony engine, saying very fast, 
“I thought I could! I thought I could! I thought I could! 
I thought I could.” 

Don’t forget the lesson, boys and girls. Think you can. 
Never think you cannot. In your Christian life, too, you 
have a right to feel the same assurance, because you have a 
right to say with the Apostle Paul: “I can do all things 
through Christ, which strengtheneth me.’’ Depend on God’s 
strength and think you can. “I can.” “Through Christ.” 
God will honor that faith and confidence. 


68 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


18 
THE CONIES 


Rev. Joun Ketman, D.D. 


Text: “The rocks for the conies.” Psalm 104: 18. 


This phrase, with Proverbs 30:26, gives a wonderful 
account of some very interesting little people. The conies 
are a race of little beasts, rather like rabbits but quite of dif- 
ferent order, creatures whom God has set up for themselves, 
separate from all other kinds of animals. They are said to 
be distant cousins of the rhinoceros, but as it would take 
several hundred of conies to make one rhinoceros in size, the 
relationship does not count for very much. 

They live in the rocks. They do not burrow like rabbits 
but make their homes in clefts and split places in the sheer 
faces of precipices. From these homes they come out to feed 
on the grass in the neighborhood, and an old man cony is 
set to stand sentinel at the mouth of the crack. Whenever 
anybody comes near he gives a whistle and all the conies 
scamper back and disappear through the crack into their queer 
home. 

Suppose you were to catch one of these conies and ask 
him, ‘What is this rock for?” Do you know what he would 
answer? He would say, ‘Why, of course, for the conies.” 
Children, just think of that! God made that rock out of 
molten lava, and he flung it about with earthquakes and he 
smote it with lightnings, and for centuries he beat upon it 
with rain and wind, and froze it with frost, and warmed it 
with sunshine, and so the crack grew wide enough to let the 
little beasts in, and the conies think he did all that mighty 
work for the sake of the conies! Well, he is only saying 
what the Bible says in our text, “The rocks for the conies,”’ 
and he is right. God had many uses for the rock and many 
thoughts in making it, but you may be very sure that he 


THE CONIES 69 


who also made the conies with their little beating hearts 
thought of them among his other reasons. 

In the city of Edinburgh there is an ancient castle, and its 
gray, weather-beaten stones are built into great rigid precipices 
of sheer rock that rise out of a beautiful valley. Far up on 
these rocks in places where no foot of man could ever tread, 
you will see long trails of straw. These are the nests of 
sparrows who have chosen that wild place for their home, 
and in the nests are the little children of the sparrows, as cosy 
and as safe as you are in your bed at night. Supposing you 
were to ask one of these sparrows, ‘What is all this rock and 
castle for?’ What do you think he would say? He would 
say, “Why, of course, for the sparrows!” That rock and 
castle have been beaten upon not only by the weather of the 
ages but by cannon-balls in many sieges, and they have seen 
two thousand years of a nation’s history fought for and 
won and lost and won again; and yet the sparrow is right 
when he thinks that they were made for him, for God who 
guides the mighty ways of nations knows also the heart of 
the sparrows, and not one of them falleth to the ground 
without his notice. 

There is a greater rock than any other in the world, older 
and mightier by far than the highest precipice or the strongest 
fortress. It is called the Rock of Ages, and it, too, was 
cleft like the other rocks. The Rock has many meanings. 
Jesus has made the world over again in his own likeness 
and swung to and fro the history of nations and of men. 
Yet little people when they need a refuge from sin and sor- 
row, flee into the cleft of that great Rock and are safe forever- 
more. And if you ask one of Jesus’ children, “What is this 
Rock for?’ he will tell you, “Why, of course, it is for me!” 
And he, too, will be right. 


“Rock of Ages, cleft for me! 
Let me hide myself in Thee.” 


And the great Christ who has borne the burdens and stood 
against the storms of time has a place in his heart for every 
boy and girl to make their home in. 


70 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


19 
GOD’S GARDEN 
Rev. S. Epwarp Youne, D.D. 


Just weeds! And what are weeds? Nice or bad plants. 
Nice plants where they do not belong—like ox-eye daisies 
you pick the petals off, saying, “Poor man, rich man, beggar 
man, thief,” or buttercups or dandelions in the hayfield or 
vegetable garden—or bad plants—like the poison ivy or bur- 
dock or smartweed—ugly and ill everywhere. And the 
trouble of weeds? This: They choke and kill the good plants. 
They use the place and the strength of soil which would 
grow wheat or potatoes or tomatoes or peas or pretty flowers. 

I. Are weeds much bother? You would not ask that 
question if you had taken care of a garden. They peep up 
as soon as the flowers and vegetables and they never give you 
a day’s rest. You must hoe them out. Some of them you 
must pull out by hand. Maybe they are so close to the corn 
or beans or radishes or onions that you can scarcely pull out 
the weeds without pulling up the good plants. Best way to 
get weeds out? Jerk them up, roots and all. No, simply 
cutting or pinching off above the ground will leave the roots 
to eat what the good plants need, and oh, so fast, the weeds 
will grow up again. 

IT. Where in the world do weeds come from? From 
seeds. Often weed seeds are among good plant seeds and get 
sown with them. The dandelion weed has a tuft for a para- 
chute and sails its balloon away over from its corner until it 
lights in some other corner and puts its hooks into the ground 
and stays. That burdock burr—well, if it gets into your 
clothes or your horse’s foretop, you will see how it sticks. 
After a while the seed will come out of the burr and grow. 

Ill. Are there any other weeds than these? Yes: 
Thoughts, evil words, harmful habits, They are weeds. 


GOD’S GARDEN 71 


Sometimes they are so like the good that boys and girls have 
to look hard to tell them apart. They spring up all the time. 
Some people have weed thoughts, right in church. Some 
Sunday School trained boys and girls let the wicked words or 
habits get in—and how they spread and stick tight. Sure 
enough, many come with the good seed—just an evil grain 
here or there in the day school or the college or the book or 
the movie. God give us teachers, parents as teachers, Sun-_ 
day School teachers, everybody as teachers, who sow only 
pure seed! 

IV. How to get out the weed thoughts or words or hab- 
its? By clean cultivation, by cutting down the first peeping 
weed—that is one way. By pulling them up by the roots— 
getting out of you the evil thing, the wicked wish, the selfish- 
ness, that causes them. God help uproot all these this minute 
as we stop right here and ask him to do it! Have plenty of 
good seed in any growing—truths you have learned about 


God and duty. 


“My heart is God’s little garden, 
And the plants that I grow each day 
Springing thoughts that I let harden, 
And the words he hears me say.” 


72 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


20 
CANNED SUNSHINE 


Rey. Epwin Hattocx Byincron 
TExT: “We love him because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19. 


“Mother is in the kitchen, canning.’ That is what Helen 
said when I called at the farm. It was a beautiful autumn 
day, the trees were loaded with fruit, the vines were bending 
with great clusters of grapes, and the farm looked like Para- 
dise. Mother was busy canning peaches and pears. Into 
jars she put them and sealed them safe from air and germs, 
On a shelf was a long row of cans looking like pictures of 
dinners in glass frames. “But why trouble about canning a 
few peaches and pears when you could gather bushels from 
the trees?’ I asked. Helen smiled and answered, ‘These are 
for winter dinners.” Then she opened the pantry door and 
showed me the preserves—quince and apple-butter, pure 
grape-juice and jams—cans, cans on all the stands. Beau- 
tiful autumn canned for winter. Helen said they were win- 
ners. I am going to accept Helen’s invitation to a winter 
dinner of canned autumn. 

We derive our heat from a ligneous substance that has 
lain for ages deep in the earth. We now take it out in black 
lumps, or cans, that we call “coal.” When we warm up the 
coal, out comes the sunshine to light and warm our homes. 
A lump of coal is an old, black can full of sunshine. In the 
ash-can is what is left when the sunshine is taken out. Thou- 
sands of years ago God, like a loving mother, canned this 
sunshine for you and me. 

Some rich men propose to erect a monument of coal to 
Philip Ginter. One hundred and nine years ago Ginter lived 
in a rough cabin in the forests of Mauch Chunk Mountain. 
While in quest of game for his family, whom he had left at 
home without food of any kind, his foot struck a black stone. 


CANNED SUNSHINE 73 


By the roadside, not far from the town of Summit Hill, he 
built a fire of wood and threw pieces of the supposed stone 
about it, so that the embers might last longer while he was 
roasting a fowl. He was surprised after a little while to see 
the stones glow and retain their heat for a long time. He 
carried a lot of the coal home and burned it there. 

A monument to the man who discovered canned sunshine. 
On one side of the monument they should put the name God, 
who canned the sunshine Ginter discovered. 

Now, I have a question for you to answer: “Why is love 
like a lump of coal?’ Because love is canned sunshine. The 
heart is a vessel that God fills with love. When we “warm 
up” to any one, the can opens, and love shines out to brighten 
and warm his life. A’ heart may be black and cold like a 
lump of coal, but inside there is love. Religion opens the 
heart and lets the sunshine in. If you want to get light and 
heat out of a lump of coal you put it into the fire. If you 
want to get love out of a soul, you must put that soul into 
the light and heat of friendship and kindness. 

A little boy declared that he loved his mother “with all 
his strength,’ and he was asked what he meant by the ex- 
pression. After some little time spent in reflection, he said: 
“Well, I’ll tell you. You see, we live up here on the fourth 
floor of this tenement, and there’s no elevator, and the coal 
is kept ’way down in the basement. Mother is dreadfully 
busy all the time, and she isn’t very strong, so I see to it 
that the coal hod is never empty. I lug all the coal up four 
flights all by myself, and the hod is pretty big. It takes all 
my strength to get it up here. Now, isn’t that loving mother 
with all my strength?’ The boy’s heart was open, and the 
sunshine of love came out. Once he was a cross and crying 
baby. His mother took him to the warm heart of her love, 
loved him and loved him, until she opened his heart. He 
loved his mother because she first loved him. 

At the great exposition it was the custom for the people 
to sign their names in the different state buildings. People 
who registered were asked to give their occupations, so that 
the books read like this: “John Smith, carpenter”; “Thomas 


74 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


Brown, farmer.” A little golden-haired girl asked if she 
might register. She was told to write her name and occu- 
pation. ‘This is what she wrote: “Mary Jones, help mamma.” 

Christ came into this world with all the love of heaven in 
his heart for you and me. When we come close to him our 
hearts open and let love out. Our hearts are opened because 
his heart was first opened for us. “We love him because he 
first loved us.’ He died for us, so great was his love. 

Here is a story: Ina storm off the New England coast a 
few years ago a vessel was wrecked. It was impossible for 
the life-saving service to reach the drowning passengers and 
seamen. At last one of the men began to drift toward the 
shore. A line of life-savers was immediately formed, stretch- 
ing out toward him into the sea. The drifting man came 
nearer and nearer, until the life-saver at the end of the line 
was able to reach him and pass him back along the line. He 
reached the shore in safety. The life-saver, in loosing his 
hand to catch the man who was floating in from the wreck, 
was dragged off his feet by the undertow, carried out to sea, 
and drowned. The rescued man was sick for weeks with a 
raging fever. When he finally recovered a peculiarity was 
noticed in his talk. No matter to whom he spoke, or what 
the topic of conversation, he always closed by repeating, “A 
man died for me once! A man died for me once!’ He 
never forgot it. He wanted others to know it. 

Love is canned sunshine. Youth is the time to fill your 
heart with love. Then when you grow older and sickness 
and trouble come, you can open a can to brighten your life. 


THE MAN THAT SWALLOWED HIMSELF 75 


21 
THE MAN THAT SWALLOWED HIMSELF 


Rev. Henry Srtoane Corrin, D.D. 


Text: “The lips of a fool will swallow up himself.” Ecclesiastes 
10: 12, 


Boys and girls, I suppose you have all seen performers of 
tricks who pretend to swallow an egg, or a baseball, or even 
a sword; but I don’t believe any of you have ever heard of 
a man who could begin with his toes and swallow down 
his entire self. If you will look in your Bibles, when you go 
home, the Book of Ecclesiastes, and turn to the twelfth verse 
of the tenth chapter, you will read,, “The lips of a fool will 
swallow up himself.’ You see, the Bible does not consider 
this man clever, for it calls him a fool; and surely he is a fool, 
for who would like to swallow himself, so that all that people 
saw of him was his mouth? How would you like to be 
thought of as just a mouth? What sort of a man do you 
think the Bible is describing? 

I. We all know boys and girls who brag. Some boy 
says, “I can jump two feet high’; and Mr. Bragger at once 
_ remarks, “That’s nothing; I can jump twenty feet high.” A 
girl happens to mention that her mother has a new dress, and 
Miss Bragger speaks up, “I don’t think that’s anything; my 
mother has a new dress every day.’ Now, nobody pays 
much attention to Mr. and Miss Bragger. People say of 
them, ‘“They’re just talk.” Their lips have swallowed them 
up, and people think of them only as mouths. 

II. Again, we unfortunately all know boys and girls who 
say unkind things about others. Nobody trusts them, for 
you may be sure that the person who says mean things of 
others to you will say mean things of you to somebody else. 
You do not want such children for your friends; you do not 
want to walk with them to school or to play with them. 


76 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


Their unkind lips have swallowed them up; we think not of 
them, for they may have some very attractive things about 
them, but we think of those sharp lips. We lose sight of 
everything about them and see simply their mean mouths. 

If. Again, I am afraid we all know boys and girls who 
say things that are untrue. No one ever feels safe with any 
one who has once told him a lie. We have heard men and 
women saying, “Yes, I know that So-and-So has agreeable 
manners, and is bright at his lessons, and can be very enter- 
taining and obliging, but he tells stories, and I don’t believe 
a word he says.” His mouth, his mouth that lets the truth 
out so crooked that it is all twisted and bent and no one can 
recognize it as the truth, his mouth has swallowed him up. 
There is no boy left to trust, no girl left to respect. What 
a terrible thing it is to have lying lips swallow you up, so 
that nothing remains of you for people to admire and honor 
and love. “The lips of a fool will swallow up himself.” 


~ 


THE SWANS’ DINNER BELL 77 


22 


THE SWANS’ DINNER BELL 
Rev. G. B. F. Hatzocr, D.D. 


TExT: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11. 


There is a pretty story that is often told about the swans 
in the moat of the palace of the Bishop of Wells, England. 
The old gatehouse, with its gray, ivygrown walls, still stands, 
and the swans sail up and down the dark waters of the moat, 
which centuries ago was a defense of the castle. 

The peculiar thing about these swans is that they ring a 
dinner bell whenever they are hungry, and expect to have it 
answered at once. A’ long string hangs out of the gatehouse 
window and, as the story is told, when the swans are hungry, 
the leader swims gravely up to the bell rope, pulls at it, and 
then waits quietly for the lodge-keeper’s wife to bring out 
her basket of bread. 

It is said that fifty years ago the daughter of the bishop 
who lived there then taught the swans this trick with great 
patience and care. The swans that have come since then 
have apparently in turn learned the secret of the bell rope 
so that one who is able to perceive the connection between the 
pulling of the string and the appearing of the bread-basket 
has always been among them. That the swans communicate 
their demand for bread to their leader, who is always the one 
to ring the bell, is evident from the fact that after the black 
swans were introduced into the moat the ringing became so 
frequent that the housekeeper had to take the string in to 
secure herself a little peace. Evidently the newcomers were 
hearty eaters. 

We all have a right to pray, “Give us this day our daily 
bread.” We are taught, “Ask and ye shall receive.’ Let the 
swans teach us this lesson—the lesson of prayer. 


78 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS. 


23 


THE LONGEST CANDLE 
Rey. G. B. F. Hattocr, D.D. 


Text: “O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and 
be glad all our days.” Psalm go: 14. 


An evangelist was talking to a meeting of children. He 
brought out a row of candles on a board; a very long candle 
was at one end, a very short one at the other. Between the 
long one and the short one were candles of various heights. 
He said that by these candles he wanted to represent the 
grandiather, father and mother, boys and girls and the baby 
of a family who never heard of Christ until a missionary 
came—whom he represented by a lighted candle—and then 
they all gave their hearts to Jesus, and from that day loved 
and served him. He then asked which candle they thought 
represented the grandfather, the mother, and so on. They 
all thought the tallest candle would be the grandfather, but 
he told them: “No, that stands for the baby, the youngest 
member in the family.” Presently one little boy said, “I 
know why; he has the chance to shine the longest for Jesus.” 

Yes, children, give your hearts to Jesus now, while you are 
young. Then you can shine for him as long as you live, 
and you can also have the joys of his religion as long as you 
live. Pray, “O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may 
rejoice and be glad all our days.” 


THE UPHOLSTERED WORM 79 


24. 


THE UPHOLSTERED WORM 
Rev. G. B. F. Hautocx, D.D. 


“Who can describe a caterpillar?’ asked the teacher. “I 
can, teacher!’ shouted Tommy. “Well, Tommy, what is a 
caterpillar?’ “An upholstered worm.” 

I am going to talk to you about a beetle and how he acts 
while he is an upholstered worm and after he becomes a 
beetle. This beetle, the Tiger-Beetle, he is called, leads a 
Jekyll-Hyde life. As a beetle, he’s a lively fun-maker, en- 
joying life and spending most of it running about over the 
ground or dancing in the air; but before he reaches the beetle 
stage of his existence, when still in the larva state, he’s a 
treacherous cannibal. If he were human, we would call him 
a Jekyll-Hyde sort of person. Since he’s only a bug we name 
him the cincindela, or the tiger-beetle. 

Probably he’s most interesting as a cannibal, so we'll de- 
scribe his life as Hyde first. He lives in a hole in the ground, 
made like a tiny well. The caterpillar holds fast to the sides 
of the well by two hooks at one end of his body, which keep 
him from slipping and keep his head always at the top of 
the hole. 

His head is fitted with a pair of sharp jaws. An innocent 
insect, taking a promenade, steps too near these jaws and 
snap! the innocent insect disappears. All day the caterpillar 
lies in wait and waxes fat off his victims. 

Finally he becomes a beetle, and puts on a coat of green 
or gray, sometimes elegantly spotted, and then he’s a dude. 
He still keeps his jaws, however, and he’s just as hungry as 
when he was a caterpillar. That’s why they call him a 
tiger. _ 

This fable teaches that it is no sin for a caterpillar to be 
a caterpillar, an upholstered worm, nor for a beetle to be a 


80 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


beetle; but it is very wrong for boys and girls to live a double 
life. Some children when they are good they are very good, 
but when they are bad they are horrid. Be good. Be steadily 
good—dependably good. 


LINCOLN TALK TO CHILDREN 81 


25 
LINCOLN TALK TO CHILDREN 
(Lincoln’s Birthday) 


President Lincoln guided our country through hard, sad 
days.. Busy as he was, he was never too busy to help any 
one who was in trouble. He loved his own children dearly, 
and he had room in his heart for all children, and they loved 
him in return. “Tad,” was his son, a little fellow devoted 
to his father. One day President Lincoln was busy in the 
White House, talking to a soldier, who had brought him im- 
portant news from the war. There came a tapping on the 
office door. The President paid no attention, and still the 
tapping went on. At last the President and the soldier heard 
a boy’s voice calling, “It’s Tad, Father! Unfasten the door!’’. 
When the President opened the door there was little Tad, all 
ready for bed. The President brought him over to the table, 
and took Tad’s little hand in his, and began to hit it gently 
on the table. 

“You forgot how to signal, didn’t you?” said the Presi- 
dent. “This is the way to telegraph me when you want to 
come in—three quick raps, followed by two slower ones.” 
Soon Tad had the signal right, kissed his father and ran off 
happily to bed. 

Never too busy to be kind! That was one of the reasons 
why people loved President Lincoln, why this country sor- 
rowed so bitterly when he was shot by a cruel bullet. 

While he was a poor young lawyer in Springfield, he was 
going to his office one morning when he saw a little girl cry- 
ing at the door of one of the houses. Lincoln stopped to see 
what was the matter. She sobbed out her story. She was 
going to visit a little friend of hers in another town. It was 
to be her first ride on the train, and the expressman had not 
come for the trunk! 


82 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


Mr. Lincoln lifted the trunk onto his shoulders and started 
off, calling to the little girl to “come along.” They just 
caught the train. No wonder the little girl never forgot 
him! <A great, brave, noble man he was—never too busy to 
be kind. 


A SHARP BARGAIN 83 


26 
“A SHARP BARGAIN” 


Uses, 


TEXT: Isaiah 52: 3. 


The other day I saw a set of very curious pictures with 
the title, “A Sharp Bargain.” They represented a German 
dealer making a bargain with an elephant! Let me try and 
describe them to you. 

Picture I. Here is the dealer with a large pack of goods 
upon his back. We shall see what it contains presently ; but 
outside it are fastened a saw, a walking-stick, and a top hat. 

Picture IIT. The pack is lying opened upon the ground, 
and the dealer is showing the elephant a very startling-looking 
pair of trousers of a “draught-board” sort of pattern, which 
the elephant is eyeing with mingled curiosity and surprise. 

Picture III. The elephant has allowed the dealer to put 
the trousers on his hind legs (and a pretty sight he looks!), 
though evidently he is not quite sure if he is pleased or not. 

Picture IV shows him dressed up with another pair on 
his front legs, a coat laid across his back, and the top hat 
upon his head. But now the dealer is holding the saw in 
one hand, and with the other he is pointing to one of the 
elephant’s tusks, which, by the way, are of exceptionally fine 
growth. I suppose he has induced Mr. Elephant to let him 
cut one off, for Picture V shows him sawing away at it, to 
the elephant’s manifest discomfiture, for he was pulling back, 
and I see there is a tear trickling down from his eye. 

Picture VI shows him waddling off in his strange attire, 
with an expression on his face which says plainly, “I don’t 
want to have anything more to do with you!” But the crafty 
dealer has not finished with him yet. He holds up in a very 
enticing manner the walking-stick and a watch and chain, 


84 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


and the elephant wavers in his determination, and comes back 
again. 

In Picture VII the dealer is cutting off the other tusk, and 
Picture VIII represents the silly, disfigured monster strutting 
off to join his friends, dressed in his absurd attire, carrying 
the stick in his trunk, with the watch and chain hung on to 
his tail! And there in the distance the dealer is making off 
with the two precious ivory tusks, which are worth a great 
deal of money, and very much more valuable than all the 
rubbish he has given in exchange. I expect that when the. 
elephant got home he would be met with derisive snorts and 
blows from his friends, to say nothing of a good round scold- 
ing from his wife, who would pretty soon pull off all his 
finery, and give him a long “curtain lecture’ for having made 
such a stupid of himself! How he would have liked to meet 
that artful dealer again next day, who at any rate had left 
him his trunk, with which he could have carried him to the 
nearest pool of water and dropped him in. 

As soon as I saw these pictures, I thought, ‘“There’s some- 
thing for my children—and myself too.” I daresay most of 
us who are old enough have made bad bargains with our 
playmates at school, for which we have been very sorry when 
it was too late. I wonder how it is that we so often think 
that the possessions of others are so much preferable to our 
own. It is just as well that our parents keep an eye upon us, 
to prevent our exchanging (or ‘“‘swopping’”—that is the cor- 
rect word at school, isn’t it?) what we have got for some- 
thing of less value that belongs to another boy or girl. This 
reminds us of a verse in Isaiah 52:3, which says, “Ye have 
sold yourselves for nought.” 

No tears or regrets could put the poor old elephant’s tusks 
on again, and I am sure that, although he knew nothing of 
their money worth, yet he must have missed them sorely when 
he had to defend himself against the attacks of his enemies 
or his angry friends. 

God has given to each of us qualities that are far more 
precious than ivory tusks, and of greater value than anything 
money can buy. Our honor, our good name, our truthful- 


“A SHARP BARGAIN” 85 


ness, our purity, our faith in God—these Satan is always try- 
ing to take away from us by some clever pretext, in exchange 
for some pleasure which can only last us a few moments at 
the best. These are the tusks with which we can “resist the 
devil,” that he may “flee from us,” and if we give them up, we 
shall fall again and again into his power. Oh, do not forget 
that the loss of any of them will leave a dishgurement on 
our character, and perhaps for our whole life we shall bear 
its ugly mark, to the distress of those who love us, and to 
our own disgrace and shame and loss. Nothing can ever 
replace them; and although we may, by God’s grace, be for- 
given, and have our sins cleansed through the precious blood 
of Christ, yet it may be years before people can fully trust 
us again, or we can undo the consequences of the foolish 
bargain we have made. 

Above all, Satan tries hard to make us exchange Christ 
and our salvation for the tawdry pleasures with which he 
tempts us. But Jesus says, “What shall it profit a man if 
he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul; or what shall 
a man give in exchange for his soul?” 

Isaiah told the people of Israel, “Ye have sold yourselves 
for nought”; but, thank God, he was able to add, “Ye shall 
be redeemed without money.” That is what Christ came to 
do, to “redeem us from the hand of the enemy.” Will you 
not come to him and ask him to save you from your sins, 
to forgive all your past mistakes, and help you to fight and 
_ live for him through all your future days? Dear boys and 
girls, let this story of the elephant speak to your heart, so 
that you may not make a terrible mistake, and fritter your 
precious young life away. 


86 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


27 
WHAT AILED THE CLOCK? 


Rev. G. B. F. Hatztock, D.D. 


Text: “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines.” 
Song of Solomon 2:15. 


“What ails our new clock?” said father one day, as he 
came from his work and found mother just putting on the 
potato-kettle in order to get dinner. “It is twelve o’clock 
now, and our clock lacks a whole half-hour of the right time.” 

“I don’t know,” said mother; “it has always kept very good 
time until now.” 

Just then Elsa came running in from school, saying, “Oh, 
mother, I was late at school this morning, and Miss Prentiss 
was so sorry because she had been teaching the children a 
new song that I missed!’ 

Father moved both hands of the clock around until both 
pointed straight up. Now Elsa knew what time it was and 
guessed why she had been late that morning. ‘Now, Elsa!’ 
said father, “run over to Aunt Jennie’s to see if we can 
borrow her watch for a day. If our clock keeps on telling 
the wrong time we might be late again to-morrow without 
the watch.” 

Elsa skipped away, pleased to help father, and pleased to 
think that Aunt Jennie might slip the watch-chain around 
her neck and the pretty watch into her apron pocket, so that 
she could wear it all the way home. When she came back, 
the watch was hung up on a nail beside the clock. The next 
morning when father looked he found that the clock was 
slower than ever; but he again set it right with the watch. 
It could not keep up, but grew slower-and slower, until finally 
it stopped altogether. 

“Now,” said father, “I will open the door that has always 
been tightly closed, to see if I can find out the trouble with 


WHAT AILED THE CLOCK? 87 


our new clock.” Elsa and mother peeped over his shoulder, 
and what do you suppose they saw? Why, somebody’s little 
home, all fixed up there among the pretty wheels, with cur- 
tains, draperies, and other silken things. The one who made 
all this was scampering away as fast as his six little legs could 
carry him. 

“That’s right,” said father, “hurry away; for you have just 
tied our clock up with so much spinning that it cannot go 
at all. You and the clock are both such busy workers; but 
you cannot work together, so you had better fix up a home 
somewhere else.” 

Father brushed the spider’s work all away, when the wheels 
commenced turning, and the pendulum said its soft ‘“tick-tock”’ 
again. Baby waved his tiny hand to show how the clock 
goes, for he had been watching, too. Father set the hands 
again with Aunt Jennie’s watch, and the next morning both 
were together telling the right time. The watch was now 
carried home to Aunt Jennie, and after this the clock told 
father just when to get up, mother just when to get breakfast, 
Elsa when to get ready for school, and nobody needed to 
be late any more on account of not knowing the right time. 

Now, I wonder if it is not possible for us to learn some 
real useful lessons from this interesting clock. 

Let’s see. Here is one. You cannot make a clock run 
right by adjusting the hands. The trouble is inside. I once 
heard a story of a man who brought the hands of his clock . 
to the watch-maker to be repaired, when the trouble was with 
the clock itself. When we go wrong the remedy must be 
inside. “As aman thinketh in his heart so is he.’’ That is one 
thing God can do for us and is willing to do, change our hearts, 
give us new hearts. 

And here is another important lesson we may learn from 
that clock and the little spider web. It is this, that very little 
things can interfere with the right running of a clock; so very 
little sins can make a life wrong. What are some of the sins 
usually thought of as little sins? There are sins which by 
comparison with great sins people call little. Ill-temper in 
family life, at school and in other relations; a light and friv- 


88 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


olous spirit; slandering and back-biting; vanity and folly in 
dress; careless and impure conversation ; pride, etc. There 
are a host of these “little foxes” we might easily mention. 

What is the harm they do? They injure our consciences 
by hardening them; they keep us from feeling the sweet com- 
panionship of Christ; they grieve the Holy Spirit; and, espe- 
cially, they make way for greater sins. 

There is an Indian story of a morsel of a dwarf, who asked 
the king to give him all the ground he could cover with three 
strides. The king, seeing him so small, said, “Certainly.” 
Whereupon the dwarf suddenly shot up into a tremendous 
giant, covering all the land with the first stride, all the water 
with the second, and with the third he knocked the king down 
and took his throne! 

Look out! Make no place in your life for so-called minor 
evils. Very little things, as a spider’s web, can interfere with 
the running of a clock. So very little sins can make a life 
wrong. 

But here’s another lesson, and a very happy one, too. It 
is this: A reliable clock is a very useful thing. So is a re- 
liable boy or girl. 


THE PEDOMETER 89 


28 
THE PEDOMETER 
Rev. Joun A. McAFEE 


TEXT: “Keep thy heart with all diligence.” Proverbs 4: 23. 


This summer in the mountains a man showed me a little 
instrument which to me was very interesting. It was called 
a pedometer, and it told a man about how far he had gone. 
The instrument was the size of a watch, and looked very 
much like a watch. Every time you took a step the con- 
trivance registered one. You may not realize how much of 
a jar you give to your body each time you take a step, but 
there is considerable jar. By a delicate arrangement the hand 
of the pedometer would move by the jar of each step. A man 
could easily measure about how far he stepped, and in that 
way could tell about how far he had gone. 

When my friend would start out on a tramp up to one of 
the lakes or peaks or to some beautiful point, he would set 
this pedometer and hang it from a pin in his pocket. Then 
when he got home in the evening he could look at it and 
tell how far he had gone, and then he would know better 
how tired to be. 

It was indeed a very interesting thing to me, for while I 
had often times heard of a pedometer I had never before seen 
one. After I had looked at it, I said to my friend: 

I. “Will it tell you where you have been?’ And he had 
to answer “No,” that the only thing it would tell was how 
far he had gone. He might have been to a very beautiful 
place or he might have been to a very ugly place—that pedom- 
eter would not show which it was. 

There is something more delicate than the pedometer, which 
will tell us where we have been. Our hearts will tell us 
whether we have been walking in a good place or a bad place, 
and it is the only thing that will. I am sure that is one of 


90 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


the reasons we are told to keep our hearts with all diligence. 

If. “Will this little instrument tell you what you have been 
doing and who your companions were?” A'gain he would 
say “No,” and to say that it would only tell about how far 
he had gone. He might have been on a mountain trail with 
evil companions who would have delighted to push him off a 
steep place for all the pedometer could tell. He might have 
been doing great good with those steps the instrument num- 
bered, and again he might have been on an evil errand. 

Ili. That more delicate instrument, which we call the heart, 
alone can tell us whether our errand is good or bad. It can 
tell us at the end of the day whether our feet have carried 
us on good errands or bad ones, whether our steps have done 
good or evil. 

The pedometer is a wonderful little instrument, and if I 
had one I would surely take mighty good care of it. While 
I do not have one of them, God has given to me something 
far more wonderful; a heart which will not alone tell me 
how far I have gone, but where I have gone, and the thing 
that took me on the errand. Surely I must take good care 
of such an instrument. 

Keep thy heart with all diligence. 


STAND ON MY SHOULDER 91 


29 
STAND ON MY SHOULDER 


Rev. Cuaupe Auten McKay 


“Come, stand on my shoulders!” I heard a boy call to his 
brother, as he stood under a cherry tree. He was picking 
cherries for his mother, but he could reach only the cherries 
on the lower branches. He wanted his small brother to climb 
up on his shoulders and pick the ripe fruit which he himself 
could not reach. 

As I walked on past their garden, I thought of another call 
like that, which we had heard in another neighbor’s home. 
The mother had died and left six children. ‘What will they 
do?” friends asked one another. This is what they did do. 
The oldest girl dropped out of high school that she might 
“mother” the family. She cooked, washed, sewed and mended 
and made it possible for the other five to stay in school. 
That was her way of saying, ‘““Come, stand on my shoulders 
and pick the ripe fruit which I cannot reach.” 

Then my thoughts flew away off to a humble log cabin 
in Kentucky many years ago. There a big, rugged, honest, 
earnest boy was growing up, with a few companions, no 
school, no church, and therefore a most unpromising future. 
Some one must teach him to be honest. Some one must so 
fire his ambition to learn that he would walk six, eight or 
ten miles to borrow a book. Some one must make his home- 
spun clothes and mend them while he studied the five books 
which he read, one by one, through and through, and medi- 
tated on all the next day. Some one must teach him to honor 
God, to believe in right instead of might, to love justice and 
mercy, and to call all men his brothers. It was a little woman 
who did all these. It was Nancy Hanks Lincoln. It was her 
way of saying, “Come, Abe, stand on my shoulders and pick 
rich clusters which I can never reach.’”’ Did he appreciate 


92 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


what she did? Yes; when he grew up and had proven the 
worth of all her training, he said, and all the world heard, 
“All I am, I owe to my sainted mother.” 

- The world is full of mothers like that. Jochebed, weaving 
an ark of bulrushes for the baby Moses, and later training 
him in the religion of his fathers, took that way of saying, 
“Come, Moses, stand on my shoulders and you can climb to 
heights I never can dream of reaching.” 

And it was just the same with the boy Samuel. He grew 
up to be one of the mightiest and one of the best men in 
his nation, but he got his start when Hannah said, in the 
language of hard work and tears and prayers, “Come, Sam- 
uel, stand on my shoulders and climb up where you can serve 
God and his people, and write your name high on the honor 
roll of history.” 

And we haven’t mentioned Booker T. Washington, giving 
his life to say to his race, as Livingston said in Africa and as 
John Eliot had said among our North American Indians, 
“Come, stand on my shoulders and reach even greater heights 
and enjoy richer fruits than I have been able to enjoy.” 

Now, let us come to our own heart door. Did any one ever 
say to you, “Come, stand on my shoulders’? Yes, I know 
of two. A long time before you started to school, your mother 
and your father put their shoulders under a lot of burdens 
and planning and tears and fears, all for what? It was so 
you could have plenty of good food and clothes, a comfortable 
bed, a chance to go to school and an opportunity to fill a 
bigger position and a happier place in the world than they 
have been permitted to do. Will you do some day as Lincoln 
did? When you have become an honored and useful man 
or woman, will you be big enough and good enough to say, 
“T am what I am because my father and my mother were 
willing to let me climb up on their shoulders and enjoy fruit 
which they could not reach, but which they wanted me to 
enjoy’? 


— 


THE CHILDREN’S FRIEND 93 


30 
THE CHILDREN’S FRIEND 


Rev. Atrrep Barratr 


The text is found in 1 Peter 5:7. “Casting all your care upon him 
for he careth for you.” 


-There are a great many hard things in this life that boys 
and girls have to contend with. Many things come across 
their path that tend to oppress and depress them. Some one 
has said that children do not know anything at all about 
care and worry and anxiety—but I am still of the opinion 
this is not true. Some boys and girls find that their lessons 
in school are particularly difficult, and to learn some things 
that they have never before been interested in is a trying, 
toilsome task. And yet if you set your minds upon these 
things you can do them easily. Then again it is sometimes 
hard to be good and true and obedient to our parents. It 
is hard to speak the truth when you are tempted to tell a lie. 
Two boys were once having an argument, and one of them 
called out emphatically: “I shan’t, I shan’t.”” “What won't 
you do?”’ asked a passer-by, as he heard the two boys. “This 
boy,” said the other little fellow, “wants me to tell my mother 
a lie, and I shan’t.” The boy who told the truth won a 
decided victory. 


“Tt’s easy enough to be pleasant 
When life flows by with a song, 
But the boy worth while 
Is the one who will smile 
When everything goes dead wrong.” 


I think the text that we have chosen is very appropriate 
for boys and girls. It is counsel that is worth listening to 
—it is advice worth accepting—and the boys and girls who 
are ready and willing at all times to do as the text says will 


94 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


never be overcome nor outdone when the hard time comes. 
We know it is true that we can never do anything in our own 
strength. It is the love and grace of Christ within us that 
prompts us when we fail to try, try again. I wonder if you 
have ever heard this good story Iam going to tell you. Listen: 

Many, many years ago when there was more romance in~ 
life than there is to-day, a certain king had decided to take 
his people to a new land and was making preparations for 
the journey. There were many things he desired to take with 
him, but the most precious thing was a large tree containing 
many valuable national records which he thought he must not 
leave behind. Most of his loyal subjects objected to this—they 
thought the tree was too heavy, and too large, and too much 
trouble to remove, and very likely would soon die when it 
was transplanted in a foreign land. The king had almost 
given up hopes of taking this treasure with him when a young 
man who loved the king stepped forward and volunteered to 
take the burden on his own shoulder. The other people did 
not give him their sympathy nor their help, so he carried it 
all alone. It was heavy to carry and many a time he was a 
long, long way behind the other people. In due time they all 
noticed that he had ceased to grow tired—he was stronger— 
and could keep abreast with them. He also became gentle 
and steady and firm in his task and proved superior to the 
others every day. Those who carried lighter loads grumbled 
all the time and every day they became more irritable and 
quarrelsome—as well as weaker and lazier and less beautiful 
in form. I wonder if you know what made this young man 
stronger, and better able to carry this heavy load while the 
others grew weaker? This is the secret: The tree he was 
carrying bore rich, delicious fruit which he ate, and the fruit 
of the burden made him strong. No matter how tired he 
was he could always look up and gather strength and nourish- 
ment from the burden he was carrying on his back. 

This lesson should teach us to look upon our toilsome tasks 
as food, and as the things that make us stronger, nobler and 
grander. If we do the hardest things faithfully and cheer- 


THE CHILDREN’S FRIEND 95 


fully, looking up to him who careth for us, then we shall be 
assured that all things will work together for our good, our 
greatening, our strengthening, and our success in life. When 
things are hard “Cast all your care upon Jesus for he careth.” 


96 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


31 
THE CAMEL’S STOMACH 
Rey. G. B. F. Hautocx, D.D. 


Text: “As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that 
ye may grow thereby.” 1 Peter 2:2. 


The stomach of a camel is divided into compartments, and 
the walls of one of these are lined with large cells, every one 
of which can be opened and closed at will by means of power- 
ful muscles. When a camel drinks, it drinks a very great deal. 
Indeed, it goes drinking on for such a very long time that 
really you would think that it never meant to leave off. But 
the fact is that it is not only satisfying its thirst, but is filling 
up its cistern as well. One after another the cells in its 
stomach are filled with the water, and as soon as each is quite 
full, it is tightly closed. Then when the animal becomes thirsty 
a few hours later, all that it has to do is to open one of the 
cells, and ‘allow the water to flow out. Next day it opens 
one or two more cells, and so it does day after day until 
the whole supply is exhausted. In this curious way, a camel 
can live five or even six days without drinking at all, and 
so is able to travel quite easily through the desert, where the 
wells are often hundreds of miles apart. 

But Christians, young or old, cannot live this way. They 
must drink often. They must eat often. We need frequency 
and regularity in prayer, in Bible study, in church attendance, 
and in the employment of every means of grace. 


PHOTOGRAPHS 97 


3b2 
PHOTOGRAPHS 
(Palm Sunday) 
EK. A, 


TExtT: Matthew 21: 1-9. 


Most of you boys and girls have had your photograph taken 
at some time or another, and you like to have the photograph 
of your friends, don’t you, especially of those whom you very 
dearly love, and who are far away? 

I wonder if you can guess what I mean when I tell you 
that there is one very wonderful collection of photographs 
which has yours and mine among the many others; and the 
strange thing about them is that they were all “taken’’ long, 
long ago, before either you or I were born, and yet they are 
perfectly life-like. I mean God’s great picture-book, the Bible. 

There is one story, among the many that we love so dearly, 
about the time when our Saviour was on earth, that has in 
it a very life-like portrait of you and me. Shall we look 
at it, and you will see that our Lord was on his way to 
Jerusalem for the last time before his crucifixion, and as he © 
came near to the Mount of Olives he sent two of his disciples 
into the next village to fetch a young donkey which they 
would find tied up, with its mother, at a certain place. And 
he told them that if any one asked them why they were taking 
the donkey away, they were to answer, “The Lord hath need 
of him.’ You remember the rest of the story, don’t you, 
how it all happened exactly as Jesus had said? The owner 
of the mother donkey and her colt naturally asked the dis- 
ciples what they were untying the colt for, but when he heard 
their answer and who it was that had sent them, he allowed 
them to take the colt. And on this untrained little animal, 
that had never been broken in or ridden before, our Lord 


98 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


made his entry into Jerusalem, surrounded by a crowd of 
men, and women, and children singing praises to God. 

Now, I fancy you are saying, “Oh, yes, we know all that 
quite well, but what has it to do with us? We can’t see 
anything like ourselves in that story, unless, perhaps, it is 
in that part about the children singing praises.’’ Maybe that 
is, sometimes, like some of us, but I am afraid it is not always! 
We plan a picnic in our summer holidays, and we look for- 
ward to having a thoroughly good time. Everything is ready, 
and we go to bed hoping and longing for to-morrow to come. 
But when we wake in the morning there is no bright sunshine 
coming in at our window, and we hear the doleful patter of 
the rain, and the rain continues to pour down, and we can’t 
have our picnic. Do we “praise” then? 

Or we want to sit quietly and read a new story book, and 
we hear ourselves called, and asked to do something else that 
will take all the time up, and leave none for our quiet read; 
or we plan a walk with our special friend, and mother says, 
“I am so sorry, dear, I cannot spare you to-day.” Then 
do we feel like praising? Are not we, some of us, just a little 
bit inclined to be cross, and wish things were not quite so 
tiresome? So that-part of the picture is not exactly a true 
portrait. Don’t you think that we are more like the little 
colt? “Oh,” you say, “how? We have not got four legs 
and a tail and a brown furry coat. How can we be like him?” 

Have you ever started for a donkey ride, and the donkey 
wouldn’t go? I was reading lately about two donkeys which 
belong to a gentleman who likes to drive them tandem fashion 
in a tiny cart. They are such pretty, well-groomed little ani- 
mals, and they can trot along quite fast for several miles when 
they like, but sometimes the leader takes it into his head that 
a good roll on his back, kicking his heels in the air, would 
be a nice change from trotting steadily along, so down he 
goes, without even “By your leave,’ and his driver has to 
use a long whip and a lot of patience before the journey is 
continued. 

Now, don’t you think that is like some boys and girls? 
They are very pleasant and obedient and industrious when - 





PHOTOGRAPHS 99 


they like; but, like Neddy, they do dearly love their own way, 
and when they cannot have it, they are so obstinate and-sulky, 
and mother and teacher and nurse have to be so patient with 
them. A baby donkey is very pretty, but a very obstinate 
little animal, and yet, did you notice, it says our Lord had 
need of him? Our Saviour needed this untrained, self-willed 
little creature just at that time for his own special use, to fulfil 
one of the prophecies which had been spoken more than 500 
years before. And so, my dear boys and girls, this loving 
Saviour has need for each one of you, though you are so 
often like the colt in your naughty self-will. You, just as 
you are in the place where he has put you, in your school life 
and in your home life, may be used by him. Will you, each 
one of you, ask him to take and make you a little servant 
of his? 

If you look at the last verse of the fourth chapter of Rev- 
elation you will find it says that God made all things (and 
that includes you, doesn’t it?) for his pleasure, and Isaiah 
43:7 it says, “God made us for his glory.” And you know 
the Bible always means what it says. 

Is not that wonderful? To think that the great and holy 
God made us to give him pleasure—to bring glory to his Holy 
Name, and that he has need of us! 

Shall we ask God the Holy Spirit to show us how our hearts 
may be thoroughly cleansed by the precious blood of Christ 
from all stubborn self-will and every other sin, so that we 
may not disappoint him, but that, having clean hearts and 
right spirits, he may be able to make use of us to bring glory 
to his Name and pleasure to the heart of our Father, God, 
who so loved us as to give his Son Jesus Christ to be our 
Saviour? 


100 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


33 
EASTER JOY AND LIGHT 
(Easter) 
Rev. ALFRED Barratr 


Text: “I am he that liveth and was dead; and behold, I am alive 
for evermore.” Revelation 1: 18. 


Easter Sunday is the gladdest day in the Church’s calendar. 
It is a day potent with life, pulsating with love and radiant 
with hope. It has been named the Day of Light. There are 
some people who say that the name Easter is of Eastern 
origin and comes from the Eastern word that means “sun- 
rising.” Their reason for this is: when the sun sets it seems 
to die, and lives again when it rises. So in this way it rep- 
resents the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
But this beautiful thought is not the origin of Easter. The 
origin of Easter is the resurrection of Jesus Christ who died 
for our salvation and rose again in triumph over sin and 
death and the grave. The sweetest and most cheerful re- 
minder throughout the entire year of the love of Jesus is this 
beautiful day. It always comes in the spring of the year. 
After the cold, drear season of winter, when all nature is dead, 
there comes across the face of the world a new sense of beauty 
and sweetness. The sun shines brighter, and nature has a 
resurrection. So in like manner the resurrection of Jesus, who 
is the Sun of Righteousness, produces beauty and joy, and_ 
light and life forevermore in the hearts of his followers. Men 
who have been dead in sin rise again in newness of life— 
the life of God. Then they live to die no more forever. 

It made a wonderful difference to me when Jesus rose from 
the dead. It meant that he was alive again forevermore, and 
could give eternal life to every one of us. There is an old 
story that used to be told to the children many years ago. 


EASTER JOY AND LIGHT 101 


It was about a prince who came and dwelt among men; he 
was beautiful and kind, and because of his gentleness and 
love he won a pretty girl—who promised to be his bride. But 
when he told her all about his history she wanted to know 
where he lived, and he told her that his home was far away 
in the center of the underworld, where his father was king, 
and the palace was magnificent, but the path to it was un- 
known to the souls of human birth; and the entrance was 
beneath the waves of the ocean. She must simply place her 
hand in his with childlike trust and plunge into the deep, deep 
waters. It would perhaps be a hard undertaking and might 
give her a few moments of suffering, but in a few minutes 
they would rise through the beautiful tall towers of his royal 
residence with its gates of pearl, shining with precious jewels, 
and illuminated with light which was not of the sun, or moon, 
or stars. Does not this beautiful story describe the passage 
through the “valley of the shadow of death’? But it is not 
quite so hard since Jesus has made it easier. 

A little while ago a Sunday School teacher in the last stage 
of rapid consumption was asked by a friend who visited her, 
“Are you afraid to die?” “I am not going to die,” was her 
cheerful reply as she pointed to the motto that hung upon the 
wall of her chamber which read, “The gift of God is eternal - 
life.” She believed that those words were true, and so she 
knew and was confident that for her there was no death. It 
is Jesus who died. And because he has died and risen again 
we need never die. Are not these words full of comfort and 
cheer to those who love and trust in Jesus? Listen—‘He that 
believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live.’ For 
“God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life.’ Let me ask you now this beautiful Easter- 
tide to accept Jesus as your Saviour—as your life—as your 
hope—as your joy. Open your hearts, and just let the risen 
Lord be your Easter Guest, your life-long Friend, and he will 
give you joy and peace, life and light. With this Friend you 
will never see death, but like your loving risen Lord, you will 
be alive again forevermore. Will you do this? 


102 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


34. 
SEEDS AND STONES 
(Easter) 
Rev. Cuas. E. Buancuarp, D.D. 


(Objects: nuts, grains of wheat and corn, seeds of various 
kinds; also small stones, shaped like the nuts and seeds as 
far as possible to find them.) 

Every child here will readily recognize most if not all of 
the objects which I have here on the table. This, for ex- 
ample, you will call a—(“Walnut’”). Yes. And this? 
(“Hickory nut.”) Right. And this a—(‘‘Kernel of corn’). 
Correct. And these are—(“Seeds” ...). Yes, of grain, 
vegetables and the like. I even have here a seed mentioned 
by Christ himself. He spoke of it as “the least of all seeds” 
(“Mustard seed”). Very good. I have also these other ob- 
jects. They look something like seeds and nuts. What are 
they? (“Stones, pebbles, gravel.’’) Yes, they are stones large 
and small. 

Now these nuts, what are they good for? What can you 
do with them? (“Good to eat.” ‘Feed to squirrels.”) Yes, 
but what else? This hickory nut, for example, what could 
you do with it? (“Plant it and it would grow.”) Good! 
That is just what you could do with it and with these others 
also, walnuts, butternuts and the rest. Each one, if you 
planted it, would grow. How of the seeds, would they grow 
if planted? Surely. Every spring seeds are planted in gar- 
dens and by farmers in the fields and they grow and give us 
our flowers and vegetables and grain. 

But how of these stones? Some of them look a good deal 
like the nuts. Could you plant them, too? Yes, you could 
plant them and what would happen if you did? (‘“‘Nothing.”) 
Nothing? Wouldn’t they grow and raise little stones by and 
by? No? Well, you are right. Nothing would happen if 


SEEDS AND STONES 103 


you planted a stone. If you put a seed in the ground after 
a time the plant will come up and grow and produce other 
seed. Seeds which have lain in dry, dark places, in the wrap- 
ping of a mummy, for example, for hundreds of years, have 
still, when planted under favorable conditions, sprung up and 
grown. But if these stones were planted in the finest soil 
and left many years, not one of them would ever show the 
slightest signs of life. Why is this? (Bring out the fact 
of life in the seed and its utter absence in the stones.) That’s 
just the point of it all, That one word “life” explains every- 
thing. The seeds have life while the stones have none. 

Now the central thought of Easter is life. (Evidence: 
flowers, eggs, etc.) Christ was cruelly put to death and was 
buried in a rocky tomb, but death could not hold him nor the 
tomb contain him. Why? Because, just as the Bible says, 
“In him was life.” Buried in the grave he burst every bond 
and came forth in newness of life from the grave, the tomb 
and the dead; “he arose” and “‘he ever liveth.” ‘He is not 
dead.” He lives to-day. 

More than that, he gives to us, to all who believe on him 
this same life. We, too, have life in ourselves. We are not 
like the stones to lie dead and lifeless in the ground, but like 
the seeds we shall spring up into a better and more beautiful 
life through the power of this life which Christ puts into us. 

“Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die,” said 
our Saviour. This is the great central truth of Easter. 


104 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


30 
EASTER 
(Easter) 


Rev. JAmMEs LEearmount 


An old Norse king sat one night in his hall when the 
tempest was roaring and whistling outside. The fire threw 
its glow far out into the dark recesses of the hall, the brighter 
for the storm and gloom around. While the king talked to 
his councillors before the fire, a little bird flew in and passed 
over their heads and out at the open window. 

“Such,” said the king, “is the life of man; out of the dark- 
ness into the light, and then lost in the darkness and storm 
again.” 

“Yes, your majesty,” cried an old courtier, “but the bird 
has its nest beyond.” | | 

And the truth could not be more tenderly told. What the 
old courtier said of the bird is true of all who love the Lord 
Jesus Christ.’ Our nest is beyond—in heaven. 

“Where shall I go?” said a dying Hindu to the Brahmin 
priest to whom he had given money to pray for his salvation. 
“Where shall I go after I die?” . 

The Brahmin priest said: “You will first of all go into a 
holy quadruped.” 

“But,” said the Hindu, “where shall I go then?” 

“Then you will go into a singing bird.” 

“But,” said the poor man, “where then shall I go?” 

“Then,” said the priest, “you will go into a beautiful flower.” 

The poor man flung up his hands in agony and cried, “But 
where shall I go last of all?” 

Thank God, this Easter time answers that question for us. 
Jesus died and rose again, and he is now preparing a home 
for us in heaven; and because he lives we shall live also, and 
live with him. 


EASTER 105 


The Rev. F. B. Meyer tells a story of how Mr. Summer- 
ville, when in South Africa, spoke through an interpreter to 
two little Zulu boys. When one came back to his mistress, 
and she asked what he had heard, he said: “Oh, there was 
a wonderful Man, and the people were very unkind to him, 
and he died and went up to heaven; but he came down again, 
and was like a little child in people’s hearts.” 

Then the lady said: “Well, what did you do?” 

The little Zulu boy, with shining face, said: “I opened my 
heart, and let the little Babe Christ come in; and he came 
in and my heart closed over him, and he is inside.” 

He went back to his people, that little heathen boy, and 
he was cruelly ill-treated by them because of his love for Jesus. 
They tried to get the idea of the Christ-Child out of his head; 
but they did not succeed. He kept saying, “He is inside, and 
you cannot get him out, and you must be very careful not to 
hurt him.” 

I think that the best way to be sure of the resurrection is 
to have Jesus as Saviour in your heart. Then you know that 
he has risen from the dead, because he lives in you. 

It is recorded of a certain Spartan in olden times that he 
tried hard to make a corpse stand; but utterly failing to do 
so, in spite of every effort, he said: “I see; it wants something 
within.” Now you have what that corpse wanted—life. But 
I want you to ask God to give you himself, and then he will 
breathe into you his own life, and like him, you will never die. 


106 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


36 
DANDELIONS ON THE LAWN 
(Spring-Time Sermon) 
Rev. G. B. F. Hattockx, D.D. 
TEXT + Leet-s not be um in well doing.” Galatians 6:9. 


A dandelion loves to have her own way, just as you and 
Ido. She loves to grow up tall, with a fine long stem, nodding 
and shaking her head and swaying merrily in the wind and 
sunshine. When the storm comes beating down, she draws 
her green waterproof cloak up over her head, and while the 
thrush sings so cheerily, she makes merry with the raindrops 
—gay little dandelion. 

But the dandelion cannot always have her own way, sweet 
as it is, for there is the gardener who comes cutting her down 
cruelly with the lawn mower again and again. 

How discouraging all this is when one feels herself made 
to live on a long stem with such jocund friends as the rain, 
the wind, and the sunshine! But the dandelion is not to be 
discouraged, and in a wise little brown heart she considers 
how she may best adapt herself to such adverse circumstances 
as gardeners and. lawn mowers. 

The next day she comes up as light and friendly as ever, 
only with a shorter stem. Again she is cut down, and again 
she springs up bravely with a still shorter stem. 

At last she is trampled upon and bruised and crushed under 
foot to the earth, but the brightness and gladness and beauty 
are still there in the faithful brown heart, and gazing stead- 
fastly into heaven, she sends up one trustful little bud without 
any stem. 

Her sister dandelions do the same, and they bloom and 
bloom and bloom until the green lawn looks as if it were 
buttoned down all over with pieces of brightest gold. 


DANDELIONS ON THE LAWN 107 


This is a true story; but if you don’t believe it, you may 
ask the dandelion. 

Children, you know the lesson. It is “try, try again.” It 
is never give up. It is to keep sweet and beautiful in life 
no matter what the adverse circumstances. Every time you 
see a dandelion think of these lessons. Yes, dandelions can 
teach children—can give them many and meaningful and very 
important lessons. When you see the dandelions on the lawn 
think of this one. Resolve never to be discouraged in any 
way of good. Resolve to try, try again. Resolve to “be not 
weary in well doing.” Look up the verse forming our text 
and read it all, for it has at the end a beautiful promise that 
your trying shall not be in vain. 


108 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


37 
THE LIGHT IN THE WINDOW 
Rev. James A. Brime Low 


The other night I was coming home when an east storm 
was at its worst, and when it seemed that there was hardly 
a star in the sky, for the night was dark. I was just wishing 
that I might get home as quickly as I could and sit by my 
delightful fire with an interesting book. No one loves to 
be out in such a storm, and on that night we had our worst 
storm of the winter. I made my way along as best I could, 
counting the steps to home. But as I came down the little 
hill to the parsonage my eye caught the sight of a little light 
which seemed to be all alone in the midst of one of our hills. 
I looked at it and just wondered what a light meant on such 
a night as this. I had seen the light many a time, but I had 
never noticed it before. You will find, children, as you go 
through life, that you will see many things which you will 
hardly notice. You will see them and more quickly forget 
them, and they become as if they never existed. And though 
I had seen this light in the window of the cottage on the hill 
many a time I only came to see it truly on that night of the 
storm. I looked at it and wondered what it meant, and this 
it seemed to say to me: The light in that hillside cottage was 
giving brightness and beauty to a place called home and was 
scattering its brightness and cheer unto everything around. 
And so I began to think of that greater light of God which 
has been put in the window in the person of his Son, Jesus 
Christ; a light which has been shining ever since the world 
began, and became so bright when we saw it in the manger 
of Bethlehem and the cross of Calvary; a light which has been 
given to lead all the children of men home to God. And 
though many people see not this wonderful light of the love 
of God and just live as if it never has been or ever could be, 


THE LIGHT IN THE WINDOW 109 


still that Light of Love is shining and will ever shine so that 
in some way and in some time we all may find our way back 
-to the great home of God. ; 

Children, I want you ever to remember, wherever you go, 
whatever you do, that God’s light of love is always shining 
for you—shining to lead you home and keep you home amidst 
the brightness and warmth of the glorious things of his life. 

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but 
have everlasting life! 

The light in God’s window of love is for you. 


110 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


38 
WORTH-WHILE SERVICE 


Rev. AuFrep Barratr 


Text: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” 
Philippians 4: 13. 


There are two kinds of people in this world—workers and 
shirkers. Those who sneak away from duty, and difficulty, 
and those who are ready and willing to accept cheerfully any 
difficulty that comes into their daily task as a challenge to 
their faith and strength. They have learned to say with Paul, 
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” 

Jesus Christ always admires the heroic boy and girl who 
dare and double-dare when daring is necessary ; who are faith- 
ful when duty demands faithfulness; who are not easily dis- 
couraged when things go hard with them; who are undaunted 
by obstacles but are always ready to face resolutely every 
hard thing for duty’s sake. To those who are willing to do 
worth-while service Jesus stands ready to help to bear their 
burdens, to endure the pain, to be brave in the conflict, and 
to conquer. 

But it is not always pleasant to do the hard things. It costs 
something to be heroic, but it always pays in the end. Have 
you heard the story about that heroic man who suffered 
torture to save the ship from sinking? It was several years 
ago on a cold winter’s morning when the river was full of 
floating chunks of ice, a Jersey City ferryboat crowded with 
men going to their work collided with a passing vessel. The 
ferryboat at once listed heavily, and would almost certainly 
have sunk if it had not been for the presence of mind and 
heroism of a passing tugboat captain. He jumped aboard 
the vessel, located the gaping hole in the vessel’s side, caulked 
it with mattresses, and bags, and old clothing and everything 
suitable for the purpose which could be found; then when 


WORTH-WHILE SERVICE 111 


there was nothing else to fill a narrow space through which 
the water was pouring in he cheerfully thrust his arm into the 
hole. Thus the water could only just trickle in and the ferry- 
boat was brought safely to its slip. When all was safe, strong 
men carried the hero to the ambulance and hurried him to 
the hospital. He was unconscious. The arm he had thrust 
into the gap to stop the water had been exposed to the grinding 
cakes of ice and was torn to the bone. This was worth-while 
service, and after he regained consciousness he was surprised 
that they called him a hero. The newspapers told with pride 
the story of his bravery. Everybody was ready to speak a. 
word of praise for this man who did such a noble deed. We 
need more boys and girls who are big enough and brave 
enough to do something that will make the world better, some- 
thing worth while. But there is another kind of service that 
I want to tell you about, it is that of loyalty to Jesus Christ. 
We sometimes allow our companions to laugh us out of our 
fidelity to the deepest and best things we ever knew. We 
allow them to taunt us until we are afraid to do the right, 
and our duty to Jesus is left undone. Listen to this story of 
forty brave men. 

When the Emperor Licinius was persecuting the Christians 
in Armenia, the Thundering Legion was stationed at Sebaste. 
Forty men in that Legion declared themselves Christians, and 
were sentenced to be exposed naked all night on a frozen pool, 
for it was winter and bitterly cold. In a house on the edge 
of the pool a large fire was kindled, and food and wine and 
warm baths were prepared under the direction of Sempronius, 
a centurion, and a guard of soldiers; and it was announced 
to the forty men that, if any of them left the pool and entered 
the house, they would be considered to have denied Jesus 
Christ. 

So night came on, and the cold biting wind from Mount 
Caucasus made the inhabitants close their windows and doors 
tightly and pile up the fuel on their own fires. On the frozen 
pool stood the forty warriors, naked, some standing lost in 
prayer, others walking to and fro, while still others were 
already sleeping that sleep which only ends in death. Over 


112 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


and over again as the hours went slowly by these brave men 
prayed, “O Lord, forty wrestlers have come forth to fight 
for thee; grant that forty wrestlers may receive the crown of 
victory.” 

As the hours grew longer, the night grew colder, and one 
of the forty could endure it no longer, and he left the pool, 
and came to the house where Sempronius and his men were 
keeping guard. But still the martyrs’ prayer went up to 
heaven. “O Lord, forty wrestlers have come forth to fight 
for thee; grant that forty wrestlers may receive the crown 
of victory.” 

The prayer was answered. Sempronius, the centurion, was 
touched by his comrades’ bravery. He declared himself a 
Christian, and took his place upon the frozen pool. When 
the cold had done its work, and forty corpses lay upon the 
ice, forty glorious spirits, with Sempronius among them, 
entered into the shining presence of their King. Let us imi- 
tate their bravery, and whatever happens let us be true to 
Jesus Christ, and when our life on earth is done, we shall 
receive a shining crown that fadeth not away. 








JACK AND THE COLT 113 


39 
JACK AND THE COLT 
Rev. W. H. Marsacu 


Text: “Be sure your sin will find you out.” Numbers iteldee ee 


How Jack wished he might hop into the wagon and go off 
to town with father that day! Since he could not do so, the 
next best thing was to see father get started. Just before 
he drove out of the gate, shouting good-by to the mother and 
son, he turned to Jack and said, “Now, son, above all else, 
be sure to keep the orchard gate fastened, for sure as you 
live the colt will get in and nip and spoil the young fruit trees.” 

With good intentions Jack promised to keep the gate locked. 
But soon he became interested in his play. He roamed all over 
the farm, then in the meadow. Soon he was having a fine 
time in the orchard. Then mother called. Off he was to the 
house. But one thing he forgot! 

He never thought of that orchard gate until his father spoke 
to him at the supper table. “How about the orchard and the 
young colt, Jack?” Poor Jack! He did not mean to forget ! 
Soon after supper he went out with father, and to the dismay 
of both of them they found that the young colt had slipped 
into the orchard and peeled the bark from most of the young 
fruit trees. There was little hope that the trees would ever 
grow again. Then it was that Jack’s father came to the rescue 
and told Jack of a sticky, gummy paste that might be smeared 
over the scars. He made some of this and covered the scars. 
Several weeks later both Jack and his father were delighted 
to find that the trees were growing and blossoming. 

Time went on. Jack grew older and larger. He soon went 
off to college. He came home only during the vacation periods. 
It was many years after Jack the lad had left the orchard 
gate open that Jack the young man sat by the fireplace with 
his mother and father. It was a stormy night. The windows 


114 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


and shutters rattled. The rain and hail beat against the win- 
dows. The wind roared furiously. Suddenly there was the 
sound of the crashing and cracking of wood. It seemed as 
though most of the orchard trees were being torn down. 
Nothing could be seen that evening. The next morning would 
tell the story. 

Bright and early the next morning Jack and his father went 
out to view the damage done by the storm. To the orchard 
they went. Most of the trees were down. Strange to say, 
they had all broken about the same place. Looking very 
closely Jack and his father were surprised to find that every 
tree that was broken was one that had been nipped and peeled 
by Jack’s little colt years before! The scars on the trunks 
had been covered. But the pitch and tar which had been 
painted over them did not strengthen the trees. When the 
stormy winds blew the weak places gave way. 

Boys and girls are often careless like Jack. Before they 
know it they have allowed themselves to tell just a little lie. 
A little tar and pitch can cover it, they think. But years later 
the day comes when the winds blow, when the storms of life 
come. Then the covered lie causes the boy to fall. He loses 
a good position because he has been covering up lies rather 
than telling the truth. Or perhaps a girl says an unkind word 
to her friend. Years pass on. The harsh word is covered 
over. The girl does not ask to be forgiven. Then later in 
life one day the girl, now grown a woman, finds that instead 
of being loved by people, those who know her would rather 
not have her around. She wakes up to find out that the cov- 
ered scar of her sharp speaking has caused the downfall of 
the tree. The scars made by Jack’s colt are bad habits and 
sins. It will never do for us to cover them over. The Bible 
tells us the meaning of this story in one verse, which we will 
repeat together: “Be sure your sin will find you out.” 


FLOWERS 115 


40 


FLOWERS 
Rev. E. P. Visarp 


Text: “I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.”— 
Canticles 2:1. 


What an element of beauty and blessing in the world are 
flowers! How much we should lose if we were without them. 
It is very significant that the earliest representation of happi- 
ness and innocence for man should be connected with a gar- 
den. How often have these little things of beauty been made 
the means of pointing some lesson, or illustrating some truth; 
how often been tokens or messengers of love, or the souvenirs 
of old memories, places, or friends. 

I. The chief thought in connection with flowers is beauty. 
We want higher ideas than are often held as regards the 
beautiful. We often think of it as something trivial, evanes- 
cent, standing alone, a mere external thing. But true beauty 
is always closely allied to the Good and the True. Look at 
a flower; the beauty of its form and color is not something 
put upon it from outside that has no necessary connection with 
it; it is part of the essence and nature; remove it, and it ceases 
to be a flower to you. 

We get this thought, too, as we look upon the beauty of 
a flower—a thought of work done, object accomplished, vic- 
tory. How much has been gone through before this stage 
could be reached, and the flower appear—all previous stages; 
germination, growth, budding, etc., with all the manifold 
checks and hindrances that all life has to contend with. 

And so in the Christian life we want to cultivate and love 
the beautiful. Not the false, but the true; not tinsel, but 
reality; not the lower, but the higher; not physical beauty, but 
spiritual—that which constitutes the highest and truest beauty 


116 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


for man—“the beauty of holiness” (Psalm xxix. 2); “the 
beauty of God” (Psalm xc. 17). 

This beauty is within the reach of all, whatever the bodily 
form, color, or expression. 

And, like the flowers, this glorious possession cannot be 
suddenly put upon us, but it is the result of toil, and opposition 
and struggle, and onward progress. 

Is it asked, “How can I thus become beautiful?’ There 
is One to whom the words forming the text. above are often 
applied—“‘the chiefest among ten thousand, and the altogether 
lovely.”’ Take his yoke upon you and learn of him. 

II. Note another lesson from flowers. Their beauty is not 
a useless, idle, purposeless thing. It exists with an ultimate 
object—Fruit. No flower, no fruit. And the beauty of Chris- 
tian character is not true beauty unless it bring forth the 
fruits of Christian life (see Gal. v. 22, 23). 

III. Enemies that spoil and destroy the flowers. How 
annoying it is to find the beautiful buds, leaves, or petals 
spoiled by the attacks of some of the numerous garden 
marauders—insects, blight, grubs, drought, etc. How numer- 
ous are these. Every flower that comes to maturity does so 
in the teeth of innumerable dangers and adverse conditions. 
And how truly is this paralleled in the Christian life. And 
what can be a sadder sight than to see the fresh, beautiful, 
budding promise of early youth marred by some moral or 
spiritual caterpillar? The name of these grubs, these ‘foxes 
that spoil the vines,” is legion—vanity, impurity, idleness, self- 
ishness, etc. In one hour one of these, as with a flower, may 
destroy the work of years. 

“Consider the lilies’ (Matt. vi. 28). And as we consider 
them, what do they teach us? That if we do not work, but 
sit still and trust God, that God will feed us? Certainly not; 
few can be so foolish as to see that lesson in the beautiful 
lilies. But this they teach us: to avoid all anxious worrying 
care—care and worry that come after we have done all that 
we can do, all that pertains to our part, care that trenches 
on God’s province, and should be cast on him (1 Pet. v. 7). 

How foolish would it be in the lilies to try “‘to toil and spin,” 


FLOWERS 117 


to make their own lovely garments. They can only drink up 
the moisture with their roots, take in the carbonic acid with 
their leaves, and lift up their heads to the sun. This is their 
work, and God does the rest, 

So let it be with us; let us do the work God has given us 
to do, and leave the rest to him. What a simple rule, but 
how hard to keep! If we could act upon it, what innumerable 
unnecessary ills and worries we should be spared! 

Flowers may be used as an emblem of prosperity, wealth 
(epcrioane7 [0,351 2 hos, 1560), 

Also as an emblem of frailty (see Job 15: 2; Psalm LOR 15, 
16; Isa. 11:6, etc.; James 1:10, 11; 1 Pet. 1:24). 


118 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


41 
THE SIGNBOARD 
Rue Stuart Nye Hurcuison, D.D. 


Out in the country at almost every crossroads there is a 
tall post and at the top of the post a signboard, telling people 
where the road leads and how far it is to the nearest towns. 
Often strangers are driving through the country. All at once 
they come to a crossroads. They do not know which way 
to turn, and there is no one there to tell them. But they look 
up at the signboard and there it is. They follow the direction 
that is given and very soon they reach their destination. 

But sometimes the signs are wrong. One day a man wanted 
.to go to a town called Charlestown. He did not know the 
way so he stopped and looked at a signboard. It read 
“Charlestown seven miles,’ and pointed toward the south. 
So he started off in that direction. After he had gone a long 
way he began to feel that he must be on the wrong road. 
He stopped at a house to inquire and was told that Charles- 
town was miles and miles back the way he had come. So 
he turned around and went back. When he reached the place 
where the signboard was he looked at it again. Sure enough 
it pointed the way he had gone. He couldn’t understand it 
so he asked a man whom he saw why the signboard pointed 
the wrong way. 

“Why,” he said, “you know a few weeks ago a storm blew 
a tree down across the road here, and as it fell it broke down 
that signboard. When the tree was removed, the workmen 
set up the signboard again, but they were careless and they 
put it up pointing the wrong way.” 

Every day there were travelers coming along that road and 
going astray because that board pointed in the wrong direction. 
Long ago the apostle Paul said, “Ye are living epistles, known 
and read of all men.” This is what he meant. We are like 


THE SIGNBOARD 119 


signboards. People are looking to us for direction as to how 
they are going to live. If we live the right kind of life and 
point the right way, they will go that way, too. But if we 
point the wrong way, then they will go astray, like the man 
who traveled so many miles in the wrong direction. 

In one of our western towns a few years ago a clock in a 
jeweler’s window along the main street stopped for a half 
hour at fifteen minutes to nine. I couldn’t tell you how much 
trouble that clock caused because it had gone wrong. Children 
were on the way to school. They looked at the clock and saw 
that it was fifteen minutes to nine. They thought they had 
time to play, and so were late to school. Men on their way 
to catch the eight-fifty-five train saw that clock and thought 
they had plenty of time and missed it. Professional men 
saw the clock and tarried to talk in the streets and were late 
for the first time in their lives. The whole town was upset 
that day because one clock had gone astray. 

There was a little boy in school once. His teacher said, 
“John, if your father had twenty sheep and one were to jump 
over the fence, how many would be left in the field?” John 
answered, “None.” “I am surprised, John,” said the teacher, 
“that you do not know your arithmetic better.” “I may not 
know much about arithmetic,’ replied John, “but I know 
something about sheep. If one sheep jumps over the fence, 
all the rest will follow.” 

Boys and girls are much like sheep. What one does the 
rest do. Others are looking to us, watching what we do. 
If we do well so will they. If we go wrong they will follow. 
Let us try to keep the signboard pointing in the right direc- 
tion. 


120 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


42 
WHY THE CROWS SAY CAW 
(Children’s Day) 
Rev. G. B. F. Hatxrocr, D.D. 


I have a very strange text. It is not a verse from the 
Bible, as most texts are and ought to be. It is a living creature 
God has made, and a not very popular one, either—a crow. 
At Children’s Day services I have seen birds, canaries, and 
have heard them singing there. They seemed to sing espe- 
cially well when the little children were singing or some one 
was playing on the organ. But my text is not a happy canary, 
but a crow. | 

Do you know why the crows say “Caw”? That is my 
question. Why do the crows say “Caw’’? I once read a little 
story that was written to explain, or rather give an imaginary 
explanation, of why the crows say “Caw.” | 

The story says: Once upon a time seven little crows lived 
in a nest and they were as black as any crows you ever saw. 
In these days crows could talk and I’m going to tell you how 
it happened that they do not talk still. j 

These little crows formed a very bad habit; they disliked to 
be asked a question by any one and were very rude in their 
replies. One day when they were near their home nest a 
woodpecker came climbing up the tree and stopped to speak 
to them. 

“I wonder why your feet are so different from mine,” she 
said socially, showing one little foot to the crows. Now the 
little crows knew all about it, for their mother was very wise 
and had told them that morning while they watched Mrs. 
Woodpecker climb a tree near by, but they did not care to 
be troubled to explain and so only said, “Because.” 

Then Mrs. Woodpecker told them about the nest she was 
making in a dead tree near by; how she dug and dug into the 


WHY THE CROWS SAY CAW 121 


soft wood of the trunk with her strong bill hammering by 
the hour until she had a beautiful room ready for her babies 
where they would be quite safe. “Why do you not build 
such a nest,” she asked, “instead of a great one on a platform 
like this?” 

The crows looked very disagreeable at that and said as 
before, “Because,” and nothing else. 

So it was, day after day, no matter what question was 
asked of these birds, there was always just the one answer, 
“Because.” 

After a time “Because” seemed too long a reply to make 
and they would answer only “Cause” and fly away. 

They became so disagreeable and stayed so much by them- 
selves that, in time, they quite forgot how to talk, and could 
only say the one word “Cause,” and even this they later short- 
ened to just ‘Caw,’ which seemed easier. They became so 
afraid that some bird would stop to ask a question of them 
that they began to cry, “Caw, caw,” when they saw any one 
coming. They said it so much and grew so ill-tempered that 
their voices became harsh and finally the other birds ceased 
to speak to them and often avoided them. 

All this was years ago, but the crows even now have few 
friends among the birds and, if you will listen in the spring 
or summer, I’m sure you will hear them cry, “Caw, caw,’ 
in the meadows. 

I read this story from Sophia Wyckoff Brower, and thought 
that it might contain the very lesson some of us need—a good 
one for us to learn on Children’s Day. It is a warning 
against becoming cross and short and ill-tempered. It tells 
us how these things can grow on us gradually till we hardly 
know it, and we have no friends left. I declare, I hear the 
crows now in the treetops. Well, every time you hear them 
think of how their voices got so harsh and learn to be kind 
—to feel kindly and speak kindly. It is right. And it pays. 


122 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS _ 


43 
THE FLOWERS 
(Children’s Day) 
Rev. James LEaARMOUNT 
Text: “Consider the lilies.” Matthew 6: 28. 


The other day I was walking through a lovely conservatory, 
and with me there was a little fellow not quite four years old. 
For some time I did not notice him, but suddenly dropping 
my eyes down to his level, I saw him in the act of kissing 
one of the flowers that stood low down within his reach. I 
said nothing, but watched his reverent, sweet little face, and 
whenever a flower or a plant with sweet foliage came within 
reach, I saw the little man kissing them all so tenderly, and 
evidently his little soul was happy in a love of beauty which 
he was too young to understand, but which he evidently felt 
in every fibre of his being. The little fellow was a sweet 
flower of God himself. 

That incident reminded me of another pathetic story told 
in a recently published book, entitled, “Lights and Shadows of 
New York Life.” It was about another sweet, old-fashioned 
boy, who had all his life lived in a dull, cold, old street, in 
the older part of New York. A cousin from the country 
went to visit this dull home, and begged that the little boy 
might be allowed to return home with her for a time. After 
many difficulties to the proposed visit to the country had been 
overcome, he was allowed to go. He went into the country 
with its blue sky and flower-strewn fields, and the beauty 
everywhere held him a willing captive from the moment of 
his arrival. 

One day he was sitting beside a bed of spice-pinks, looking 
at them “in an ecstasy of adoration.” 

“Pick some,” said his cousin; “pick as many as you want.” 


THE FLOWERS 123 


“Pick them!” repeated the boy. “I am afraid to. Aren’t 
they God’s?” 

“And this,” adds the writer, “was the supreme moment of 
his life. They could not keep him in the city again. To-day 
he ranks high as an American artist, dating his birthday from 
the time he first saw the glory of God in flowers.” 

The other day I stood before just a bush of common broom, 
with its sweet, pure, intense yellow flower, and its purity 
and beauty impressed me almost as much as the burning bush 
must have impressed Moses. It was “afire with God.’ I felt 
that the place whereon I stood was holy ground, for God 
had been there before me caring for and painting that broom 
with a glory that no artist could reproduce. 

I wonder what you think about the flowers. I often wish 
I could look at a daisy with a child’s eye again. Do you ever 
think about the flowers and who made them, and how beautiful 
God must be, who writes in loveliness so sweet? It would 
do you good just to stand and look at the flowers until you 
see their beauty, and if you could get a magnifying glass the 
wonder and the glory would be greater still. 

Not long ago a children’s flower service was held in a York- 
shire village. A prize was offered to the boy or girl who 
should send in the best collection of wild flowers, with their 
names. The winner of the prize, a girl—I almost envied her 
—sent in thirty-four different species of flowers, of which 
twenty-seven were rightly named. That would be a good 
exercise for you, even if you got no prize. You would gain 
knowledge, and a love of the beauties of nature would be 
created, and that would be a great prize in itself. Make much 
of the trees and flowers in these glorious days of summer 
sunshine. They will speak to you of God, the Creator of 
them all, and of his overflowing love, his marvellous skill, 
and will lead you to trust him more who takes such infinite 
pains and care with the flowers. “How much more shall 
he clothe you.’’ God who clothes and cares for the flowers 
will not forsake one of his own children, for he tells us that 
the whole world is not worth as much as one soul. 


124 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


“Flowers—wherefore were they made, all dyed with rainbow light, 
All fashioned with supremest grace, upspringing day and night, 
Springing in valley green and low, and on the mountain high, 
And in the silent wilderness, where no man passes by? 

To speak to man—to bid him hope, whene’er his faith is dim,— 
That He who careth for the flowers will care much more for him.” 


These flowers and plants come out of apparently poor sur- 
roundings—black, dirty earth. And the most unlikely chil- 
dren often grow up to surprise the world with their beauty. 
Charles Dickens was a flower that blossomed in unlikely soil. 
He carried a man’s burden when he was but a child, his was 
a hard lot, and he had no love to sweeten it. But he grew 
amid all that, and his life charmed the world. Charles Lamb, 
with his wonderful messages throbbing in his heart, was com- 
pelled to see his poor, crazy sister do violence to his own 
mother. He gave up his literary and social ambitions to watch 
over his sister, who had lost her reason. His life was full 
of tragedy. But out of all that there came fruit and flowers 
that made the world glad. Make up your lives and minds 
for all they are worth, and God, who cares for the flowers, 
will help you to bring forth much fruit and much beauty. 


MOTHS 125 


44. 
MOTHS 


Rev. Curmnton Buatrzect ADAMS 


Text: Matthew 6: 19-21. 


For our text we turn to St. Matthew’s Gospel, and read 
in the sixth chapter, from the nineteenth verse to the twenty- 
first, where our Master talks about treasures and thieves and 
rust and moths. He tells us of something which never wears 
out, though the moths do their best to eat it up. He tells us 
about good character. 

You know about moths, I’m sure. In the spring mother 
takes your winter clothes out in the sunshine, examines them 
carefully, puts them on the clothesline, whacks them severely, 
and then smothers them down in camphor, so as to protect 
them from these little enemies. 

Did you ever see a moth-eaten dress or coat? It’s most 
always places you can’t hide that are damaged, too. But a 
moth-eaten garment is a sad as well as an ugly sight, because 
it shows that somebody has been careless, And that’s why 
the Bible speaks of bad people as being like a moth-eaten 
garment. Bad people ought to have been good people, but 
they let the moths get in and spoil them. 

Boys as well as girls like fine clothes. But did nobody ever 
say to you when you were all dressed up in your best and 
happened to say or do something mean or unkind: ‘That 
doesn’t look nice’? Of what was mother, father, or teacher 
speaking then? Not of your clothes, for they looked very 
well indeed. They meant you did not look nice. They were 
talking about the clothes the soul wears, the name of which 
is character. The moths I have in mind seek to ruin that 
most precious garment. 

Moths are great mimics. They cling to a piece of cloth 
or leaf that is the same color as themselves, and think, as they 


126 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


crouch there motionless, you will really believe them to be 
a part of the cloth or leaf. If they happen to have bril- 
liant wings, as some of the Italian sort do, they’ll fold the 
bright edges under them. And that is exactly the way it 
is with these treacherous moths which try to eat all the 
good out of your hearts. They may not seem to be so bad 
at all. 

For instance, there’s fibbing. It looks very mild, and maybe 
you would not call a fib a lie. But a fib is a lie—a lie all 
dressed up in its best Sunday clothes and looking so nice you 
scarcely recognize the rascal. A fib is the old wolf dressed 
in Red Riding Hood’s Grandmamma’s clothes. 

Then there’s pouting. The reason pouting is so wicked a 
moth is that it eats patience out of the cloth of the soul’s 
garment. Stop pouting, or you'll be one of those unfortunate 
people who are the unhappiest in the world—touchy people. 
They wear their nerves outside their clothes. Of course, their 
feelings are always being hurt. 

Another moth is tattling. Tattling children are liable to 
make the most dangerous people on earth. People who do 
more damage-than all other mischief-makers combined, and 
they are called gossips and busybodies. 

Putting on airs is the moth that devours sympathy. If 
you don’t destroy it, it will make you jealous and vain, silly 
peacocks that all sensible people pity. 

Shall I speak of the moth called greediness? It consumes 
generosity and leaves one selfish. 

The most important thing to learn is how to get rid of 
the moths, if they are in the clothes your little hearts wear— 
if already any of these bad habits have clutched you. Re- 
member mother’s way—the fresh air, the whacking, and the 
camphor. First find the moths and then get after them in 
earnest. You'll have to give yourselves a good shaking in- 
deed, but, if you mean business, you can overcome the pests. 
Camphor is not a sweet-smelling odor, but in the New Testa- 
ment we read about a life, the fragrance of which is sweeter 
than roses and purer and more healing than the breath of 


MOTHS 127 


spring. When we learn more and more about the life of 
our Lord Jesus, and get really to love him himself, somehow 
it comes to pass that these moths of bad thoughts and desires 
are not as plentiful and powerful as they used to be. 


128 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


45 
A CHILDREN’S SERMON, WITH WHITE 
MICK AS A TEXT 


Rev. J. G. STEVENSON 


Of course you have all of you seen pictures of submarines; 
- and maybe when some of you have been at sea you have 
watched them pass under the water or your quick eyes have 
picked out a submarine’s tower showing just above the waves. 
It cannot be very nice to be inside one of them. But if you 
went for a little voyage in one you would find plenty to interest 
you. Among other things you would almost certainly find 
some white mice; and I am sure you would wonder why they 
are there. This would be the reason. In submarines they 
carry gasoline, which spreads out and loses itself in ordinary 
air when it has the chance; and to prevent its escaping and 
perhaps being harmful, it has to be specially cooped up. Even 
then, unless everybody is careful and all goes well, the gaso- 
line escapes, and the white mice are kept because as soon as 
any gasoline escapes they smell it-and begin to squeak. And, 
of course, the moment the sailors hear the squeaking they 
know something is wrong and they hurry to set everything 
right. 

I am rather sorry to say that some clever person has in- 
vented a machine for detecting the escape of gasoline; and 
so the order has gone forth from the Board of Admiralty 
that soon no more white mice are to be carried on submarine 
craft. But for all that it is good to think of white mice warn- 
ing great sailor men of danger, and so sometimes even helping 
the crew to save their lives. It shows that whether we are 
small mice or small children we can always do something 
to help others. Also it sets me wondering whether all my 
little hearers have the sense and the courage to cry out when- 
ever anything is really wrong and likely to harm other people. 


WHITE MICE AS A TEXT 129 


Of course, we all call out when we ourselves are hurt, just 

as white mice squeak if their tails are pinched. But do you 
call out when anything seems likely to harm others? 

1. A lie is always harmful. Do you call out when you 

hear a lie? 

2. Cheating and bullying and using words that are not 
clean are all of them sins that do more harm than an escape 
of gasoline. 

3. Do you call out when any one plays unfairly or hits 
some one smaller than himself, or talks filth? 

4. Of course you cannot say anything if you are always 
doing such naughty things yourself. But if you are wise 
you will refuse to do anything that harms others; and if you 
are aS wise as white mice in a submarine you will call out the 
moment there is danger to other folk. 


130 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


46 
“YOU'RE A BRICK” 


My text for you this morning is not to be found in your 
Bible, though I daresay you have all heard it before. The 
other day I heard some one say to a boy who had done a kind 
and manly deed, “Herbert, you’re a brick!’ and that’s my text 
—“You’re a brick!’ “Oh,” you will say, “that’s slang, and we 
must not use slang.” Well, I think you will agree with me 
when I have finished that oe if it is slang, will not do you 
any harm at all. 

I am going to tell you hee this phrase came from. It 
was used a very long time ago by a Spartan king, whose name 
was Agesilaus. We are told that there visited him an am- 
bassador from another part of Greece, and the king showed 
him the wonders of Sparta. Now, this ambassador had heard 
how great and mighty a man the king was, and he expected 
to see the towns surrounded by great, high walls and towers 
to keep off the attacks of the enemy. And he found none 
at all. So he said to the king: “O king, I have visited the 
towns over which you rule and though I have looked, yet 
have I seen no walls to defend them against an enemy. I 
am ‘amazed.” ‘‘Why,” said the king, ‘you have not looked 
carefully enough, Sir Ambassador; come again to-morrow 
morning, and I will show you the walls of Sparta.” And the 
Ambassador went away more surprised than ever, and was 
very curious the next morning when he returned to meet the 
king. 

Then the king led him down the plains, where his army was | 
drawn up in full battle array, with their spears and their shields 
shining in the sunlight. Pointing to the battle lines, he said 
proudly to the Ambassador: “There, sir, thou beholdest the 
walls of Sparta—ten thousand men, and every man a brick!” 
Every man a brick—every man loyal and true, ready to defend 
his country and fight for his king. 


“YOU’RE A BRICK” 131 


And so my text is, “You’re a brick,” and I say it to every 
boy and girl here. I want you each to be a “brick,” to be 
loyal and brave, and true—not to the king of Sparta, but to 
the King of Kings, to God—fighting for him and defending 
his name. You remember when Jesus came to earth, men 
expected him to build a great throne and to establish himself 
as King of the Jews. But Jesus said: “No, I will not build, 
a throne, nor a city of bricks or stone. My kingdom is made 
up of men and women, boys and girls, and I will reign in 
their hearts. My kingdom is within you.” Jesus relies on 
every boy and girl to defend his cause, to be loyal to his 
kingdom, to be his walls of defense. 

I want you then to take this text away with you, and when 
any one says to you, because of some kind deed you have 
done, “You’re a brick,” remember that you really are; for 
Jesus has chosen you to be loyal and true to his cause, and 
to his kingdom. Every kind word, good deed, loving thought, 
every battle against sin, temper, disobedience—all these will 
please your King and win for you a crown of eternal life. 


132 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


47 
MESSAGE FROM A POSTAGE STAMP 


Rev. Grorce Henry Coman 


I want to talk to you to-day about a postage stamp and 
the message it has for every one of us. It is just the common, 
two-cent stamp, issued by the government of the United 
States, which we place on the letters we mail to friends and 
relatives. 

1. The stamp, children, has no value except that given to 
it by the maker. If it was not for the fact that the stamp 
is made by the government of our country, the little square 
of paper would not have any value. It must have the imprint 
of the government upon it to make it worth anything. So 
with our lives. It is only as we bear the Divine imprint that 
our lives are of any real value to ourselves or others. 

2. Again, the stamp accomplishes the task assigned it. 
Here is an important lesson for each of us. Sometimes we 
are apt to object to the task given us, We either will not 
attempt to do them at all or only half do them. But when 
you place a stamp upon an envelope it fulfils its task by carry- 
ing the letter to the person and place addressed. We ought 
to do as well, and cheerfully fulfil the task required of us. 

3. Then, too, the stamp does all expected of it. When I 
buy a stamp and place it on a letter it belongs to me and I 
expect it to carry the letter to its destination, and that is just 
what the stamp does. God, through Jesus Christ, has bought 
us, we are his. Do we do all he expects of us? 

4. The stamp carries whatever message is entrusted to it. 
Sometimes it is a message of joy or of love. Sometimes it 
is a:message of sorrow and trial. Sometimes it is just an 
invitation to some society affair. Then again it may be a 
business letter. Whatever the message is, the stamp carries 
it. The message of the Christ is entrusted to us. Are we 
faithfully carrying it to others? 


MESSAGE FROM A POSTAGE STAMP 133 


5. A very good trait of the stamp is that it does not give 
up when it gets a licking. The facts are it sticks still closer. 
So criticism, trial, temptation and hardship should cause us 
to stick all the closer to our Saviour, Jesus Christ. How 
quickly we become discouraged in Christian work! How 
prone we are to give up when the tasks are hard and results 
do not appear as quickly as we desire! Let us learn a lesson 
from the stamp and stick to our tasks no matter how difficult 
they may be. 

6. Did you ever hear of a stamp getting into a fight and 
striking at any one? When we place our letters in the post- 
office, before they are sent to their destination, the.canceling 
machine hits the stamp right across the face, but it never 
strikes back. Many of us, if some one was to strike at us, 
would at once think the proper thing to do was to strike 
back, and if possible just a little harder than we were struck 
ourselves. What a lot of misery, trouble and bloodshed would 
be avoided if men and nations would only do as the stamp 
does in this respect. } 

7. The stamp is also noted for attending to its own busi- 
ness. I lived in a small town some years back where every- 
body seemed to know everybody’s business. A lady once 
said to me while I was living there, “It is not necessary for 
a person to attend to his own business here, there are so 
many persons who will attend to it for you.” Now the stamp 
tends to its own business, and so should you and I. 

8. Another fine thing about the stamp is, you can tell by 
its face what it is. This ought to be true of all Christians. 
We ought to bear the imprint of the Christ-life to such an 
extent that it will show in our faces. 

9. Again, the stamp never gets discouraged. If you change 
your address and some one writes to you at the old address, 
if it is at all possible that letter will find you, no matter how 
often you may have changed your address. So Christians 
should persevere in their efforts to do the will of the Master. 
Do not allow anything to discourage you. “Let us not be 
weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we 
faint not.” 


134 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


10. A fine thing about the stamp is that it never gives up 
until it is dead. It keeps trying to do its duty until it finally 
lands in the Dead Letter Office. So God expects you and 
me to labor. We ought to keep everlastingly at it until death 
claims us and we are called upon to lay down the working 
tools of life. 

Now I hope that every time you may see a stamp it may 
remind you of some of these truths we have spoken of to-day. 
Try to keep them in your minds and live as happy and as 
useful a life as one of our little red, two-cent stamps does. 


HE CALLS THEM ALL BY NAME 135 


48 
HE CALLS THEM ALL BY NAME 
Rev. CuaupE ALLEN McKay 


I saw a sight that made me glad when I visited one of 
our public schools recently. My surprise began when I asked 
the teacher to tell me some of the children’s names. 

The boy in the front seat was George Alden; I knew his 
great-great-grandfather came over in the Mayfower. Of 
course, his great-great-grandfather, Alden, was an immigrant 
who wasn’t wanted here by the old pure-blood Americans— 
the Indians—but the Alden family call themselves the old 
pure-blood Americans now and they sometimes forget they 
are the children of an immigrant. In the next seat behind 
George was Olaf Larson, and I knew his parents were proud 
to name their boy for Saint Olaf of Norway, even though 
this boy was born in America and might some day be presi- 
dent. Maggie O’Brien sat in the third seat and when I heard 
her name I knew that the priest at the church, with the gilt 
cross on its spire, was glad to christen her “Margaret,” for 
Saint Margaret is one of Ireland’s patron saints. 

In the next row was a curly-headed boy called Tony Brag- 
gazi, whose father kept the fruit store at the corner. And 
near Tony was Otis Seibert, whose father and mother came 
from Germany, and next to Otis was Elizabeth Carson, who 
was taught at home to reverence the Union Jack next to the 
Stars and Stripes; and behind Elizabeth was Robert La Valle, 
who loved best of all the story of how Lafayette helped 
America to be free. 

There are scores and scores of schoolrooms all over our 
great America with just such a mixed lot of names. But this 
is what made me glad. They all spoke good English and 
when they sang “America” and “The Star-Spangled Banner,” 
I knew where all those young men came from whose names 


136 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


we read, and tried to pronounce, as they left for camp or 
were killed or wounded in France during the World War. 

But best of all were the words that came into my mind as 
I walked home: “I am the true Shepherd and I know my 
sheep and my lambs and I can call them all by name. And 
there are other sheep and lambs that do not belong to this 
fold. I will call them and they will hear my voice and little 
by little they will learn that there is one Shepherd and that 
they all belong to one big flock. Then all the world shall see 
and know that the Heavenly Father sent me to be their Shep- 
herd and that they are all my sheep and my lambs,” 


WHO FLIES THE KITE? 137 


49 
WHO FLIES THE KITE? 
Rev. Curaupe ALLEN McKay 


Who flies the kite? 

“I,” said the boy, “as I run along, I fly the kite.” 

“IT” said the wind, “I am great and strong, I fly the kite.” 

“T” said the tail, “I, without fail, I fly the kite.” 

“T’ said the sticks, as all voices mixed, “I fly the kite.” 

“IT” said the string, “though I am long and thin, I fly the 
iter. 

Some fine day in March when you get your kite up high 
and it is going steady, take a minute to settle this argument 
between the boy, wind, tail, sticks and string. Which one 
do you say really did fly the kite? I think I can guess what 
you will say as you render your decision, like a Judge on the 
bench of a court. 

You will’say, “All of them were wrong, and all of them 
were right, for they all worked together to fly the kite. And 
if any one of them had failed, the kite would have come tum- 
bling down in a heap of ruin and failure.” 

Now I have guessed correctly what your decision would be, 
then won’t you sit on the Judge’s bench again and decide an- 
other important case? 

A famous musician was one time playing a wonderful and 
difficult selection on a large pipe organ. In the very midst 
of the performance, suddenly the organ began to wheeze and 
groan, and then it choked down as if it were dying. The 
musician was enraged and the audience astonished. 

Opening a door, at the side of the great organ, they found 
that the boy who pumped the organ, to fill the bellows with 
air, had gone to sleep at his post and so the whole affair 
was a failure. Now this is what I want you to decide. If 
that musician had been able to finish his musical selection 
and the people had cheered and cheered, and afterward had 


138° ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


congratulated the musician and praised the great organ, who 
would really have deserved the honor and credit? Would it 
have been the musician or the organ or the boy? I can guess 
again what you will decide. I think you will say, “It was 
not the musician nor the organ nor the boy, but all of them 
working together.” 

Isn’t that what you boys call “team work” in baseball or 
football? Do the fellows call you a good “team worker’? 
If you are, there is an important place for you in the business 
world and the church when you grow up. You don’t think 
much of the pitcher who tries to win the game all by himself 
or the outfielder who fails to catch a “fly” that comes his 
way just because he is not down in the center of the diamond 
where all the folks in the grand stand can see him and cheer 
him. You like the fellow who plays his own part the very 
best he can and helps every other fellow to do his part and 
lets the credit come.to the whole team. When Harvard beats 
Yale at football or Yale beats Harvard in their annual boat 
race, you will hear those who know the game saying, “It was 
good team work that won.” 

One of the first men who was killed for being a Christian 
preacher wrote a letter one day to a little church in the great, 
busy city of Corinth where this man had been pastor. Some 
of the people in that little church had been talking and acting 
as if the work they were doing was the really important work 
while the kind of service that some of the others were doing 
didn’t amount to very much. So this wise old pastor told 
them in his letter that a church is like the human body. And 
this is about the way he told it. “The foot doesn’t dare to 
say that because it isn’t the hand it is not necessary to the 
body. And the ear can’t say, ‘If I can’t be the eye, I won’t 
be anything.’”’ Then their old pastor added in his letter, 
“Don’t be foolish church members. The body does have many 
members, even as the church, but the body will tumble down 
in a heap of ruin and failure unless the hand, foot, ear, eye 
and all the other members work together in ‘team work.’ ” 

What a fine team captain Paul would have made! He 
knew the secret of success. Would you have made a good 
member of his “team,” do you think? 


LESSONS FROM A LEAD PENCIL 139 


50 


LESSONS FROM A LEAD PENCIL 
Rev. A. M. Reacwu 


Text: “My heart is inditing a good matter; I speak of the things 
which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of 
a ready writer.” Psalm 45:1. 


The pen and the pencil have been of incalculable value to 
the human race. By them-the gains of the past have been 
recorded and handed down to us. 

The lead pencil is a very common article, but an exceed- 
ingly useful one. The artist and the architect, the business 
man and the schoolboy, the doctor, and, in short, all classes 
and all people, use the lead pencil. 

It is very close to human life in its everyday work and may 
teach us some worth-while lessons. 

I. The value of a pencil depends most on the quality of 
the inner elements. 

The thing that counts most in a lead pencil is the quality 
of the lead. If it is hard and crumbly or gritty, no matter 
how fine the outside is in the quality of wood or the color or 
varnish, it is not of much use. So it is with people. The , 


body may be almost perfect in stature and physique, yet, if | 


the soul or character is defective, that life will not count for 
much. King Saul was a fine-looking man, but he had a very 
defective soul. David was much less imposing in appearance, 
yet God chose him because he had a good, honest and humble 
heart. It was his inner life for which he was accepted. 

II. The outside must be sacrificed before the pencil can be 
of any use. 

Jesus said: “If any man would be my disciple, let him take 
up his cross and follow me.’’ That is, deny himself. Just 
as the wood must be whittled away, so the selfishness and 
pride and all that is of self-will must get out of the way be- 


140 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


fore we can be of any use and cast an influence which will 
count for Christ. 

If the pencil could feel when the knife cuts away the wood, 
it would be hurt. But the cutting gives it a finer point. This 
is what trial and discipline do for us; they give us a clearer 
edge and point. 

ITI. Many pencils are fitted with a rubber—to erase mis- 
takes. 

Mistakes are inevitable and provision must be made to cor- 
rect them. That is the work of the rubber. This speaks of 
forgiveness. “There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest 
be feared.” Yes; our nature is such that we make mistakes 
and fall into sin, but “he remembereth our frame; he knoweth 
that we are dust.’’ He has made a complete plan by which 
“our sins, though they be scarlet, shall be as wool, though 
they be as crimson, they shall be as white as snow.” 

IV. The pencil is useless except in competent hands. 

A’ human life is never in competent hands until it is placed 
in the Master’s hand. “No one shall pluck them out of my 
hand.” Paul, until he gave himself into the Master’s hand, 
was a blasphemer and a murderer in heart. When he said, 
“Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” and became obedient 
to Christ, he became one of the greatest of men. The secret 
of Dwight L. Moody’s life was just here. He put himself 
fully into the hands of God. | 

V. A pencil indicates great usefulness. 

The new pencil looks the best and seems more desirable. 
But after all, the stub shows that much work has been done; 
and who can tell how important it may have been. The les- 
son is, to keep on in our work clear up to the end. There 
is more honor in an old age after hard work than in the life 
that has never soiled its hands in service. 

VI. The latest pencil—an eversharp pencil. 

The “eversharp” pencil reminds us of “everlasting life.” 
Ordinary lead pencils wear out, are lost and finish their ca- 
reer. The “eversharp,” as it is called, might last for a life- 
time. These lives of ours, like the lead pencils, wear out 
and come to an end. But the Saviour came to tell us that 


~~ 


LESSONS FROM A LEAD PENCIL 141 


we “might have life and have it more abundantly.” This is 
the everlasting life. 

Unlike the pencil, which must be what it is, and cannot 
change itself, we may be what we desire to be so far as the 
life eternal and Christlike character are concerned. ‘Choose 
ye this day whom ye will serve.” 


< 


142 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


51 


LESSONS FROM THE DANDELION 
Rev. G. B. F. Hautock, D.D. 


Text: “The wind passeth over it and it is gone.” Psalm 103: 16. 


Once upon a time, in a tiny green camp by the roadside, 
lived a soldier all alone. He had traveled a long way from 
a dark underground country, and meant to see something of 
the world. The first thing that he saw was a broad field, 
full of waving banners, and he thought what a beautiful place 
he had discovered and pitched his tent among the green 
grasses. 3 

Soon the raindrop elves saw how tired and dusty he was 
from his journey, and they soothed him with their musical 
stories, and gave him a refreshing shower bath. Through 
the clouds came the sunbeam fairies, bringing him a beauti- 
ful uniform of green and gold, and a quiver of golden arrows. 
Then the soldier was very happy, and smiled out at passers-by, 
and cheered many a weary traveler with a glimpse of his 
sunny face. By and by Spring went away over the hilltops, 
the birds had finished their nesting, and the butterflies came 
to herald Summer. Then the soldier began to feel tired, and 
knew he was growing old. His gray uniform had faded, and 
the golden arrows had turned to silver, and the wind brownies 
shot them far away. So the soldier crept down among the 
grasses, and his green camp was left vacant. But everywhere 
his silvery arrows fell there blossomed bright, golden flowers, 
and the little children loved them, and called them dandelions. 

Some of the Indians tell to their boys and girls this story 
about the Prairie Dandelion. In the Southland, the lazy old 
South Wind was resting on the ground. One day, as he 
looked across the prairie, he saw a beautiful girl with yellow 
hair. For days he saw the maiden, and every day he said, 
“To-morrow I will go and ask this beautiful girl to come and 


LESSONS FROM THE DANDELION 143 


live with me.” But the South Wind was lazy, and put off 
going. One fe he saw that the maiden’s hair was white as 
snow. “Oh, the strong North Wind has put his crown on 
her head!” he sighed, for he thought that he had lost her. 
But it was not an Indian maiden He saw. It was the Prairie 
Dandelion, and she vanished one windy day. 

Let us do the good things we intend to do now. Oppor- 
tunity passes. Life is fleeting. Be good now. Do good 
now. 


144 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


o2 
A LOOK AT THE HOUSE YOU LIVE IN 


Rey. CraupE AtLten McKay 


You have seen Mr. Turtle or his cousin, Mr. Tortoise, 
walking about near some creek or pond carrying his house 
on his back. If you disturb him he will pull himself inside 
and close the doors and lock them on the inside. We think 
him a queer creature because he lives in his house all the time 
and carries it about with him. But we do the same thing. 
This house we live in is made of bones, muscles, nerves, and 
skin. The bones make the joists, the crossbeams and the 
rafters of the house we live in. The muscles make a great 
rope-and-tackle outfit that enables us to carry our house 
around with us and to work and play. But the muscles would 
never know when to act if each one did not have a telegraph 
wire attached to it. The telegraph wires we call nerves and 
they carry messages as quick as lightning. If you touch 
something very hot, the nerves in your fingertips flash a mes- 
sage to “central’”—your brain—and instantly the muscles in 
your arm are notified to take your finger off the burning ob- 
ject, and it is done. Sometime you cut your finger. The 
“wrecking crew” is notified immediately. 

Truly, this is a wonderful house God has given us to live 
in, to carry around, and to do our work for us! Let’s not 
forget that the body is only the house we live in. One second 
after a person moves out of his “earthly house,” the eyes 
can’t see because it really isn’t the eyes that see. They are 
just the lenses through which the person looked. The ears 
can no longer hear because it really isn’t the ear that hears. 
The ears are the speaking tubes by which the person living 
inside may hear. The ear-telephones God has. put in your 
flesh-and-bone house are more wonderful than the Bell tele- 
phone in your wooden house. A telephone is no good except 


A LOOK AT THE HOUSE YOU LIVE IN 145 


when some one is at each end of the line. So your ear would 
be no good if there wasn’t a person living inside this flesh- 
house to hear the message. 

If I should try, it would take a long time to tell all the 
wonders of this house we live in. It has a heating plant to 
keep it warm. It has a system of canals to carry food, done 
up in red packages, around to the hungry muscles. It has a 
sugar factory, where starch is changed to sugar. It makes 
its own oil to keep the hair alive and the skin soft. It has a 
drainage and sewer system. It makes its own medicine. It 
does its own repairing, if we give it good food, water and 
air for material. When you mash your finger-nail, it slowly 
pushes the old nail off and puts a brand new one on. It has 
hands that can be trained to do wonders with a needle, saw, 
hammer, knife, brush, shovel, fork and pen. 

Such a wonderful, complicated house, so well equipped, 
was planned by our Heavenly Father. Just as you can learn 
how skillful a man is by looking at some piece of work he 
has done, so you can learn somewhat of our Heavenly Father’s 
wisdom and power and loving forethought by studying the 
marvelous house you live in. Many, many years ago David 
said: “I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonder- 
fully made; marvelous are Thy works.” We could and 
should tell our Heavenly Father the same thing. 


146 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


ae 
THE CHILDREN’S TEN SERVANTS 
Rev. J. M. Farrar, D.D. 


TExT: “Servants born in my house.” Ecclesiastes 2:7. 


On my way to church I passed a house in which a child 
lives alone. He has ten servants to wait upon him, all born 
in his house. His father is a king, and he sent his son here 
to be educated as a prince. No one has seen the child, and 
all messages are sent from and to him by means of the serv- 
ants. ‘Two of the servants show him all the things that he 
wants to see. Two other servants listen for him and repeat 
the messages and music that he desires to hear. He has two 
servants who carry him wherever he wants to go. Two are 
busy doing his work. One is a specially bright servant, a 
real genius, who praises him when he does right and has au- 
thority from his father to scold him when he does wrong. 
As I passed the house, the child told one of the servants to 
say good-morning, and another one came out and shook hands 
with me. 

You are the child. Your Father in Heaven sent you to 
this country to be educated as a prince or princess. Your 
body is the house, and you, who came into the house through 
the door of birth, and will some day go out of it through the 
door of death, have never been seen by human eyes. Your 
ten servants conceal you, reveal you and stand for you. Your 
body is the home that God wants you to occupy and beautify. 
A’ fable tells us of spirits from the other world coming here 
to find a body. One took the body of a king and did his 
work. Another took the body of a poet and did his work. 
After.a while one came and said: 

“Why, all the fine bodies are taken, and all the grand work 
is taken. There is nothing left for me.” 

He was told that the best one was left for him—the body 


THE CHILDREN’S TEN SERVANTS 147 


of a common man, doing a common work for all in need of 
his help. Train your ten servants to serve and honor you, 
as a prince or princess. You are the child of a king. 

I. Two servants, your eyes, are looking for things worthy 
of a king’s child. “Mr. Titbottom’s spectacles” were sup- 
posed to enable the owner to see people in their real charac- 
ter. A well-dressed man was seen as a dollar. One man 
was seen as a ledger and another as a pack of cards. A so- 
ciety lady was seen as a fashion plate, and a housekeeper as 
a broomstick. One person was seen to be good and another 
bad. Children like or dislike people because the child of the 
king sees them as they are. Do not cloud these servants 
with sin. 

Il. The two servants, your ears, must be carefully trained. 
Sometimes the ear becomes deaf to everything that is good, 
and hears only what is bad. With such servants no one can 
remain the child of a king. 

III. Your two servants, your feet, are very useful if well 
trained. Always send them on an errand when you pray. 
In a home for destitute children there were twenty cases of 
diphtheria. One of the managers went to her room to pray 
for help. Another said: “A little foot power will be needed.” 
Then she set about doing something for the children. When 
you pray, send your feet to bring back an answer to your 
prayer. 

IV. The hands are two of your most useful servants. 
The child of the king can use them to bless and beautify the 
world. A German legend says that when the full moon casts 
a silver bridge across the Rhine, the spirit of Charlemagne 
comes forth, and, standing midway on the bridge, lifts its 
hands and pronounces a blessing on the homes and fields and 
rivers of the Fatherland. Stretch forth your hands and bless 
your native land. 

V. Probably the servant needing most your special care 
is the tongue. It isan unruly member. ‘“Therewith bless we 
God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men.” He is 
the. one servant kept in a room by himself and guarded by 
two doors, the folding doors of teeth and lips. 


148 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


VI. The tenth servant is the brightest and most useful. 
He is in the throne room, and is a servant so long as we obey, 
but becomes a master when we disobey. The servant who ~ 
praises the child when he does right and blames him when 
he does wrong is conscience. When this servant leaves you, 
or falls asleep, you are no longer the child of the king. 

The child that I passed this morning lives in a magic house. 
Every time that he forgets others and gratifies himself, the 
house shrinks and selfishness brings the walls closer and closer 
until his life is in danger of being crushed out. Every- time 
that he does some good deed for others, and acts as the child 
of the king, the house grows larger and grander. Some day 
it will become the house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens. ; 


FAITHFULNESS 149 


o4 
FAITHFULNESS 


Rev. AuFrep Barratr 


Text: “Be thou faithful unto death.” Revelation 2: 10. 


This is a command that lasts a long time, “unto death,” 
especially when you are young, because death is a very long 
way off—is that what you are saying? We are none of us 
sure how far away death is, and even if it is a long way off, 
then your faithfulness to God and duty should be long also, 
even unto death. 

You are to be faithful in everything all through life. The 
word that you should never forget is Faithfulness, The men 
and women who make a success of business are the men and 
women who are faithful. And then in our text we read that 
the people who receive a crown of life are those who are 
faithful. When we are faithful to God and faithful to duty 
and faithful in all our attempts to carry out our best pur- 
poses, then we are making a success of life. 

Gerhardt, a German shepherd lad, was tending his master’s 
flock in a valley near the edge of a forest, when a hunter 
came through the woods and asked him, “How far is it to 
the nearest village?’ ‘Six miles, sir,” said the boy, “but the 
road is only a sheep track.” The hunter looked at the nar- 
_ tow, crooked track and then said, “Will you leave your sheep 
and show me the road? I am hungry and tired and thirsty. 
I have lost my guide and missed my way. I will pay you 
well for your trouble.” The boy replied, “I cannot leave my 
sheep, sir; they would stray into the forest and be eaten by 
wolves or stolen by robbers.” “Well, what of that?” replied 
the hunter, “they are not your sheep, and your master would 
not miss one or two even if the wolves or robbers did happen 
to get them. I'll give you more money than you ever earned 
in a year if you will show me the way.” 


150 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


“T cannot,” replied Gerhardt firmly. “My master pays me 
for my time, and he trusts me with his sheep. If I were to 
sell my time to you, which does not belong to me, and the 
sheep should get lost, it would be just the same as if I stole 
them.” “Well,” said the hunter, “will you let me look after 
your sheep while you go to the village and get me some food 
and drink and a guide? I will take good care of them while 
you are away.” The boy shook his head. “The sheep do 
not know your voice, and,” he said slowly, “you tried to make 
me false to my trust and wanted me to break my duty with 
my master. How do I know you would keep your word to 
me?” The hunter only laughed, but he knew, after all, that 
the boy was right. Then, turning to the boy, he said, “I 
can see, my lad, that you are a good, faithful boy. I will 
never forget you. Show me the way and I will try and fol- 
low it myself.” 

Gerhardt opened his dinner pail and offered the humble 
contents to the hungry man, who ate them gladly, coarse as 
they were. A’ few days afterward Gerhardt heard that the 
hunter was the grand duke, who owned all the country as 
far as he could see. The duke was so pleased with the boy’s 
faithfulness that he sent for him shortly after, gave him a 
nice home, sent him to college, and in a very few years Ger- 
hardt became a wealthy man and a trustworthy and influen- 
tial citizen. 

Faithfulness is a beautiful thing to possess. The grand 
duke remembered and rewarded the boy’s faithfulness. God 
always remembers and rewards faithfulness. When you think 
of this it will help you to be faithful, even in the midst of 
difficulties, and when things are hard you cannot help but 
succeed if you are faithful. Set the text before you always 
and try to live up to it and you will receive a “crown of life.” 


GOD SEES 151 


55 
GOD SEES 


Rev. Frepericx T. Bastrer, D.D. 


Text: “Thou God seest me.” Genesis 16: 13. 


One of the most difficult things for any boy or girl to real- 
ize is the fact that God can see us, nO matter where we are, 
and hear our conversation and even read our thoughts. I 
want to tell you a story that beautifully illustrates the words 
of my text. 

Once a bunch of boys, walking along a country road, 
chanced upon a deserted farm. The windows of the house 
were broken, the yard overgrown with weeds, and the gate 
was hanging on one hinge. There was no sign of life any- 
where. On one side of the house was a large tree, laden 
with apples. Oh, my! what a temptation the boys had! One 
of them suggested that they fill their pockets with apples. 
Others, however, expressed their fear that some one might 
chance to pass that way and see them. Finally one of them 
hit upon the idea that they visit the orchard at nine o'clock 
that evening. 

They did so. One boy climbed the tree and shook down 
the apples, while the others gathered them in little bags they 
had brought with them. All of a sudden a man appeared 
on horseback, and, jumping off at the gate, made for the 
apple tree. This he did so quickly that the boys did not 
know of his presence until he stood before them. 

Now, how did that man know about these boys? Did he 
overhear their conversation? No. Did he see them enter 
the farm? No. Did he happen to pass that way at the time? 
No. Well, you might be guessing till midnight without suc- 
cess, so I will tell you. Seven miles away an astronomer, 
sweeping the heavens with his telescope, saw what was going 
on under that apple tree. He thereupon telephoned the news 


152 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


to the owner of the farm, whom he knew well, and he, mount- 
ing a horse, galloped to the scene a mile and a half away. 

Now, there are two things I want you to remember: 

I. How terrible the words of my text are when boys and 
girls do wrong. If an astronomer, by the aid of his tele- 
scope, could see those boys seven miles away, surely God 
can see us anywhere. Let us, therefore, never do evil, for 
’“thou God seest me!” 

Il. What comfort and joy these words must be to those 
who try to do good. Has any one of you, Boy Scouts, ever 
led a blind man safely across a busy street? Remember, 
God has seen the good deed and he will never forget it. 
Have you, girls, ever tried to be helpful to your mothers, or 
done a kindly deed that nobody took any notice of? Re- 
member the words: “Thou God seest me,” and will surely 
reward you some day. Has any one of you been kind in 
word or deed to some one who did not appreciate your kind- 
ness of heart, and gave you a scowl in return? There is - 
one, at least, who did appreciate it, and he said: “Whatso- 
ever ye have done to the least of these, my brethren, ye have 
done it unto me.” Let the words of my text be ever present 
in your minds, and they will keep you from doing wrong and 
help you to do right. Surely, “thou God seest me!’ 


LOST CHILDREN 153 


56 
LOST CHILDREN 
Rev. G. B. F. Hattocr, D.D. 
Text: “Until he find it? Luke 15:4. 


A large number of children are lost in New York every 
year. The largest number ever sheltered at police head- 
quarters in one year was in 1892, the year of the Columbian 
celebration, when over 5,000 children were lost. More chil- 
dren are lost in summer than winter. During the time of the 
Italian feast of St. Rocco, celebrated in June, many children 
of Italian parents were lost. The star day of all the year 
is said to be the first opening of the public schools after the 
summer vacation. Many little ones go to school for the first 
time, and are too small to find their way home. They wander 
aimlessly about, sometimes covering most surprising distances 
and finally, tired out and discouraged, they begin to cry. 
Here some officer takes a hand, and the child is brought to 
the central office. 

So, indeed, it is with God’s children. They wander about 
aimlessly for a few years, some many years. Sin burdened 
and discouraged, they sink down by the wayside with bitter 
weeping. Here they find a hand that has been secretly fol- 
lowing them stretched out to help. They never realized be- 
fore that help in time of need was so near at hand. Many 
travel the way of life and reach almost the end before they 
discover that God is so near. 

Let us all, young friends, accept God as our guide. Let 
no one put off the day. Put your hands in his now. Lost 
children! Are these not awfully sad words? Saved! Saved! 
We all may be saved to-day. 


154 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


o7 
THE MAN WITH THE OIL CAN 


Rey. Witiram Harrison, D.D. 


What a commonplace look the ordinary little oil can has! 
Nothing wonderful, imposing or attractive in its appearance. — 
A little can of oil, in its dull gray dress, standing in its own 
little corner, where hands can be readily laid upon it when 
it is needed. A'nd yet what fine things the tiny can can do 
when the hour for its use arrives. The great engine draws 
up to the station after its run of fifty or a hundred or more 
miles and one of the first things we notice is the engineer 
stepping down on the foot-board with the oil can in his hand. 
He goes here and there, where there is danger of heat and 
friction, pouring in the tiny stream of oil with the confident 
air that it will do a most important work and save friction 
and perhaps breakdown, and it may be disaster, of the great 
palpitating steed he is driving on the road of iron and of 
steel. What a kindly and splendid mission this apparently 
insignificant object has in the mechanical world and wherever 
wheels and pistons and cylinders do their work! 

Flow heat, friction, disappear when this little commonplace 
agent gets in its kindly work, and without noise all manner 
of accidents and losses are prevented. But this is not all 
that the small object can do or suggest, for we are in a world 
where there is much heat and exasperation and thousands 
of things going wrong in the home, in the church and in the 
nations because of anger and passion which have not been 
smoothed out and subdued. The irritation, the friction from 
high-strung and excitable persons and situations have been 
the cause of many of the ruinous and painful disasters which 
have made such havoc in the home, society, the church and 
the nation. There are, however, those in every community 
who, like the engineer with his oil can, are constantly at 


THE MAN WITH THE OIL CAN 155 


their noble work endeavoring to cool the dangerous passions 
with their oil of kindness, patience, good judgment and fine 
consideration and charity. How much splendid work has 
been accomplished by these oil bearers will never be fully 
known. The kind, soft voice and equally kind and healing 
words in times of dangerous excitement and irritation have 
prevented all manner of destructive consequences of which no 
records have been made. In times of bitter trial, of perplex- 
ity, in crushing burdens or sorrow, in hours of heart-breaking 
calamity, what an opportunity for healing and soothing work 
opens up before all who would desire to help the suffering 
all around them! There were never so many on this mission 
with their oil of sympathy and kindly feeling and Christian 
good cheer as at the present time. The jars of costly and 
precious healing ointment are being emptied with a devotion 
which is splendid indeed. What this means in sick rooms, 
in hospitals, on the battlefields and to the crushed and hurt 
everywhere would make one of the finest pages in the history 
of the world. We all cannot be great, but all can be good 
and bearers of the little oil can, which has a mission that 
angels might covet. 


156 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


58 
QUICK OBEDIENCE 
O. “W.-P: 


A voice is useful only as it is obeyed. Take the voice of 
the alarm clock: it may be the making of a boy or a girl or 
it may be the most useless thing in the home. I once knew 
a boy who found it terribly hard to get up in time for school, 
so his mother gave him an alarm clock for his room. The 
first morning it sounded bright and early and Frank was up 
with a bound and off to school with time to spare. The next 
morning the room was cold and the bed was warm. He de- 
cided to lie a few minutes after he heard the alarm. He was 
almost late for school that morning. The third morning he 
shut off the alarm, went to sleep again, and was late for school. 
Then his mother took the clock back to the store and changed 
it for one of the big, intermittent kind. It worked well for 
a couple of weeks, but Frank was soon able to sleep right 
through its pounding. Finally his mother brought a big dish- 
pan to his room and put it over the clock. That combination 
made a terrible noise, but in a few weeks even that wouldn’t 
get Frank out of bed. To-day it takes almost a brass band 
to get him up, and his failure to obey the voice of the alarm 
clock has cost him.some good positions. 

The voice of the alarm clock, however, is not the only one 
which you must obey promptly. There is the voice of mother 
who commands you because she loves you. There is the voice 
of father who knows what is best for you. There is the 
voice of your teacher who is developing your mind and your 
character. There is the voice of conscience telling you what 
is right and what is wrong. Best of all there is the voice of 
Jesus. 

In Acts 26:19 a man named Paul tells us what he did 
when he heard the voice of Jesus. He had been obeying the 


QUICK OBEDIENCE 157 


voices which he had heard, but now the voice of Jesus came 
to him louder and clearer than any which he had ever heard. 
“T was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision,” he says. 
Paul was just that kind of a man. He was ready to obey 
as quickly as any soldier could obey his captain’s commands. 
If he had not obeyed, the world would be much poorer to- 
day. Because he quickly obeyed, the way has been made 
easier for thousands of others. 

The voice of Jesus is the most important voice that you 
will ever hear. That’s the reason we want boys and girls 
in Sunday school and church. It is there that you can hear 
Jesus speaking most plainly. And the way in which you obey 
his voice will in the long run tell what kind of men and 
women you will become. The most useful people in the 
world to-day are the ones who can say with Paul, “I was not 
disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” 


158 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


59 
THE BEST ERRAND BOY 
Rev. 8S. Epwarp Youne, D.D. 


Here is the best errand boy. Do you know, he is never 
out of sorts. Never says he is tired. Never whines, ‘““Why 
can’t somebody else doit?” Never talks back. Almost never 
loses what I give him. Always goes as fast as anybody could. 
Always costs less than any other. Why, he will go from 
here to San Francisco, and then over two thousand miles to 
Honolulu, and there he will deliver what I have handed him, 
and I pay him less than the price of a good lead pencil— 
not so much as it costs to ride one block on a street car. This 
errand boy will go for me clear into Africa and get on a 
camel and ride as far as the camel goes, and then get on the 
back of a man so black that a piece of charcoal would nearly 
make a white mark on him, and keep on going till he places 
in a missionary’s hands what I send. 

How does this errand boy do this? Well, he works with 
lots of other errand boys, all of them following the best rules 
and each doing his part just right and every one helping 
each other all he can. When I give this errand boy anything 
he goes into a green box and then into a kind of a sack and 
with a whole lot of other errand boys is tumbled onto a table 
and then tossed into a sack and then hauled in a truck and 
then whizzed along on a train; and if I want him to go to 
a little town along the railroad he is pitched off in a sack as 
the train rushes on; but if he is going to Honolulu or Africa, 
he stays on the train and at the ocean takes the first steamer. 

Some people like to have homes for these little errand boys 
from all countries. There they are in the home, which is 
usually a kind of book. They have come from many far- 
away places and have some strange faces. Some of their 
faces look like King George’s, some like King Emmanuel’s, 


THE BEST ERRAND BOY 159 


some like King Albert’s. This errand boy’s face looks like 
George Washington’s. Now you know that the name of this 
errand boy is Postage Stamp. I do not know whether the 
name of this one is Johnny or Billy; but I rather think it is 
Sammy. Now you know that the way to get the most won- 
derful things done is to work with other boys and girls who 
try to do good things and to follow the best rules and to do 
each your best. Which are the very best errands? God's 
errands—the things he wants done. What was it Jesus said 
when he was a little boy? “I must be about my Father’s 
business.” So should we. 

Which are the best rules? God’s rules, written in his Book. 
Let us learn them better every day. Which part should we 
do? Just the part that belongs to you; just taking God’s 
message where you can. Splendid! Each of you God’s er- 
rand boy or girl, going with his message, working with others 
who do the same. 


160 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS ‘2 


60 
WORKING WITH A PATTERN 


Rev. Freperick W. Raymonp 


Text: “See that thou make all things according to the pattern that 
was shewed thee.” Hebrews 8: 5. 


Things do not just happen! Before we can have clothes 
to wear, tools to use, books to read, or houses to live in, 
somebody must imagine the thing that is to be; somebody else, 
perhaps, must make a pattern of it; then other workmen fol- 
low the pattern and make the thing as nearly like it as they 
can. What is true of things is true of people. The good 
and great men and women, whom you know or whom you 
have read about, did not just happen. They dreamed dreams; 
they took a pattern of what they wanted to be and to do; 
then they grew to be like that pattern. 

Some time ago I visited a great factory where a great 
many hundred workmen are busy making all sorts of scales 
and weighing machines, from the very delicate one that will 
tell you the weight of a pencil mark on a piece of paper to 
the great one that will weigh a loaded freight car or a loco- 
motive. In that factory I got a sermon that I would like 
to pass on to boys and girls everywhere. A strange place 
to get a sermon, but ministers seldom have a chance to hear 
a sermon in a church, so they must listen for them in all sorts 
of places. 

First we went into a great building where there were noth- 
ing but patterns, more than thirteen thousand of them, made 
of wood and of metal, in all kinds of shapes and sizes. There 
I got my text, you see! As we went on from one building 
to another the sermon was growing. 

Before any of these patterns were made somebody had to 
see in his mind what was wanted. A' man in China, let us 
say, wanted to weigh goods in pounds and by his own Chinese 


WORKING WITH A PATTERN 161 


system at the same time. So somebody must think out just 
how it should be done and what sort of machine would be 
needed. A draftsman must draw very accurately on paper 
a pattern of the machine just as it should be when finished. 
Following carefully the directions on the paper pattern, a 
pattern-maker must make a pattern in wood. This pattern 
must be perfect, for you cannot have a perfect casting or a 
perfect machine without a perfect pattern. 

There is a surprising thing about this pattern. For, though 
it must be perfect in form and finish, it must be slightly 
larger than the part of the machine that is wanted, to allow 
for the contraction of the metal when it cools and hardens. 

After you have the perfect pattern, then the work of mak- 
ing the machines has begun. With the pattern a very care- 
ful, skilled workman must make a perfect sand mold. Mean- 
while all sorts of material—old stoves, car wheels, scrap iron, 
pig iron and coke—must be melted together in the hottest 
of fires and the white-hot liquid must be poured carefully into 
the sand mold and allowed to cool. After some hours the 
mold is taken off, the sand is knocked away, and, last of all, 
comes the process of finishing—smoothing, polishing, paint- 
ing—until the parts are ready to be assembled in the com- 
pleted machine. When I saw the finished machines, all 
prettily polished and decorated, it was hard to believe they 
were just the result of the processes I had been seeing. 

All the time I had been seeing these things in the factory 
I had been saying to myself what you have just been thinking 
—“This is so very much like life.” 

What a strange lot of things and experiences go into the 
making of what we call a life, and what unsatisfactory things 
people make of life when they have got hold of the wrong 
pattern or have tried to live without any pattern at all. We 
all need a pattern, and a good one. Even now you have 
probably chosen one. It may be your father or mother; it 
may be an Indian chief or a great athlete; it may be some 
famous hero of whom you have heard or read. It’s a fine 
thing to have a hero and to grow like him. But there will 
come a time, if it hasn’t yet, when no human being will seem 


162 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


quite great enough or good enough to be the pattern for your 
life. Then you will want the perfect pattern, and you will 
want it a little larger than you can expect to become in this 
world. You will want the perfect pattern God has provided 
in Jesus. It is never too soon to begin following the right 
pattern. Why not choose now the best pattern you know 
and try to make your life in all things like that pattern? You 
will find in it all the best things you see in all your heroes. 
God will help you to grow, as boy and as man, into his 
likeness. 


THE MYSTERIOUS RING 163 


61 
THE MYSTERIOUS RING 
Rev. T. W. Rainey 


Text: “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see 
him?” Jeremiah 23:24. 


All of you, I am sure, have seen rings, and perhaps some 
of you have one upon your hand now. If you study their 
history you will learn that they have been used in every age 
and country, and for a great many purposes. Kings used to 
Wear signet rings and on the gem with which they were set 
they had engraved some character or device which no one 
else was permitted to use, with which they sealed their 
letters and decrees. We are told in Genesis that when 
Pharaoh took Joseph out of prison and made him the second 
tuler of the kingdom, he drew his ring from his finger and 
put it on Joseph’s hand that every one might know that he 
must be obeyed and honored. Rings have been used to cure 
disease, to ward off evil spirits, and to poison those who were 
marked for assassination. Hannibal, the famous Cartha- 
ginian general, committed suicide by slipping a poison ring 
on his finger which he carried with him when he invaded 
Italy. There are rings of gold, and silver, and platinum, and 
brass, copper and iron. There are rings set with diamonds, 
or rubies, or pearls. Some are worth ten cents and some are 
worth ten thousand dollars. But the ring I wish to tell you 
about would be worth to some men many millions of dollars, 
and would be sought for and fought for if it were known 
to exist to-day. No doubt, as has been the case with some 
noted jewels, a good many crimes would be committed by 
men who wished to have it. 

There lived once upon a time, many centuries ago, a shep- 
herd named Gyges. He kept his flock with other shepherds 
in the mountains of Lydia, and was a servant of the king 


164 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


of that country. It seems that once a year all the shepherds 
came together and chose one of their number to go as a mes- 
senger to the king to bear the report of their work, and of 
the state of his flocks which were scattered through the moun- 
tains feeding in the green valleys. 

One day not long before this meeting, Gyges was walking 
along the edge of a deep crevice in the rock which had been 
opened by an earthquake, and out of curiosity he determined 
to climb down into it to look about. He made his way care- 
fully to the bottom, and when his eyes had become somewhat 
accustomed to the darkness he saw something glittering at his 
feet. He stooped down and picked it up, and found it to be 
a curious and very beautiful ring. Slipping it on his finger 
he made his way out and returned to his flock. When the 
shepherds were called together at the appointed time, Gyges 
met with them, and sat down in the circle listening to what 
was said, and twirling his ring on his finger. Suddenly he 
discovered a startling thing. When he turned the set inward 
he became invisible, and when he turned it out again he was 
visible as before. The others soon noticed this too, and were 
greatly astonished and frightened. But Gyges was filled with 
delight, and persuaded his companions to make him their 
messenger. This they did, and he started off on his journey. 
- Arriving at length at the king’s palace, Gyges made his report. 
But instead of going back to his work he made himself in- 
visible, managed to reach the queen, and winning her affec- 
tions away from her husband, he plotted with her to kill the 
king and seize the crown for himself. This he did, and being 
able to protect himself from the consequences of his evil deeds 
by becoming invisible at will, he committed many crimes, 
plunged into a life of vice, and became a terror to all just 
men. 

Now, children, suppose you had a ring like that? What 
would you do? Suppose no matter what you did no one 
could see you, no one could punish you? Would you be 
selfish, and impure, and cruel, and vicious just because you 
couldn’t be found out? Or would you be true, and good, 
and always do right because it is pleasing to God and com- 


THE MYSTERIOUS RING 165 


manded by your own conscience? Should we do right only 
because we are afraid of being caught and punished ? 

But suppose we had such a mysterious ring, and could do 
anything without fear of being seen by any human eye. Is 
there no other eye that sees us? What about God? Did 
the ring of Gyges which kept him from being detected by 
those who were about him, and saved him from the wrath of 
men, cover him from the sight of that one who in heaven 
beholds the ways of men? God says, “I know the things 
that come into your mind, every one of them.” “Can any 
hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?’ We 
may be able to cover up our sins from our father and mother, 
from our sister or brother, from our schoolmates, and the 
policeman, though that would be very hard to do without 
Gyges’ ring. But we are all “naked and open” to the eyes 
of God. We should fear to do wrong because it grieves 
our Father in heaven, whose eye is upon us not to frighten 
and awe us, but to guide us in the path of righteousness for 
his name’s sake. 


166 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


62 


“TOO BUSY” 
Rey. A. J. TrRaver 


Text: “The first said, I have bought a field and I must needs go 
and see it; I pray thee have me excused.” Luke 14:18. 


Young ladies and gentlemen, our text is taken from one 
of Jesus’ best stories. You like good stories and good story- 
tellers, don’t you? There is nothing better than a story from 
father or mother. How I used to like to draw up my little 
stool close to mother’s feet, and how I used to fairly hold my 
breath for fear I would miss one word! Now, fathers and 
mothers and sisters and brothers like stories, too. If father 
is a good story-teller, folks like to stop him on the street and 
invite him out to dinner to hear him talk. So it was with 
Jesus. He was the greatest story-teller that ever lived. Even 
people who did not like him very well invited him to their 
homes just to hear him talk. It was while Jesus was at din- 
ner with a rich man he told the story of A Certain Man. A 
Certain Man, he said, planned a big supper. He thought he 
would surprise his friends and did not invite them till the 
tables were all ready. Then he sent his servant to invite 
them to the feast. You and I would like to be surprised in 
that way. But this man’s friends all began to make up ex- 
cuses. What do you suppose one said? “Thank your master 
very much for the invitation. I'd like to go real well. But 
you see I am so busy. I just bought a field and I have to go 
out and see it. I’m real sorry, but you see I’m too busy to 
go.” Well, when the servant came back and told his master 
it made him angry and he said to himself, “I guess that fel- 
low wouldn’t have been too busy if he had wanted to come.” 
Then word came from all the rest that they were too busy 
to come, so he sent out and brought in all the poor folks, and 
they—how they did enjoy the feast! And I just think that 


“TOO BUSY” 167 


all those friends were pretty sorry when they heard what a 
grand dinner had been waiting for them. 

This reminds me of a story that comes from the East. 
Many, many years ago three Wise Men came to a little Rus- 
sian village. They traveled by night, for they followed a 
star. They told of a wonderful child who was to be born 
somewhere in Judea. Their star, they said, would lead them 
to the very house where this Baby King lay. They were 
tired and hungry and asked for a place to spend the day. No 
one offered them shelter, so they started on their way, but 
in the edge of the village a poor woman named Babouschka, 
who had heard their plea, stopped them and offered them a 
place in her little home. After they had eaten and slept she 
asked them many questions. They told her of the wonderful 
child they were going to worship and asked her if she would 
not like to go with them after the star. She was glad and 
happy in the thought of seeing the little Christ-child, but she 
remembered her house and then she was sad. It was not 
swept and dusted and the kitchen was all out of order. It 
was only an hour till the sun would set and the Wise Men 
would have to go on their way. They told her to clean up 
a little and then get herself ready and go out and wait by 
the gate. They had to go back to the town and buy some 
things at the stores and they would be coming back in an 
hour. So they left her and she went merrily at work, clean- 
ing, dusting and washing up. No sooner was one thing made 
clean and shiny than everything around it looked dull and 
dusty.. Time flew faster than her broom and dustcloth. At 
last she had her house in order, and putting on her things she 
made a little bundle of food and clothing and went to the 
door. The sun had set. The Wise Men had gone. Oh, how 
she cried! Back into the house she ran, and shaking her 
fists at the walls she sobbed, “House, I hate you! I was 
your slave and didn’t know it! You made me busy, busy 
every day, cleaning and scrubbing, till now you have made 
me too busy to go with the good men who were going to take 
me to the King.” Her neighbors thought she was crazy. 
She went to the rich man of the town and sold her house 


168 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


and everything she had, and bought a camel and a lot of 
pretty things that babies like. Then she rode off after the 
Wise Men. But she never caught up with them, so to this 
day she has been riding up and down through the East look- 
ing into every cradle and giving pretty gifts to every baby 
in the hope that among them all she would one day find the 
dear little Christ-child. And, instead of Santa Claus, little 
Russians expect Babouschka to bring them gifts on Christ- 
mas. But poor Babouschka never found the baby Jesus. 

Too busy was the man in Jesus’ story, and he missed the 
feast; too busy was Babouschka, and she never saw the Christ- 
child. So busy are we, playing, working at lessons, so busy 
at this and that all day long! Too busy to study our Sun- 
day School lesson, too busy to learn Bible verses, too busy to 
go to mission band, too busy to say a nice word to the new 
little girl or boy who has just come to our school, too busy 
to help mother, too busy to run errands for father, too busy 
to try to be the kind of girl and the kind of boy that makes 
the heart of Jesus proud. Oh, dear ones, let us promise 
Jesus never, never, never to say, “I’m too busy to accept your 
invitation.”’ 


MAKE-BELIEVE DIAMONDS 169 


63 
MAKE-BELIEVE DIAMONDS 
Rev. Joun F. Trovure ~ 


The other day as I was passing down Eighth street, I was 
attracted to a store window by the headlines of a large sign 
which read, “One Hundred Dollars Reward.’ Upon read- 
ing further, I learned that the sign was a “make-believe” dia- 
mond advertisement. The window was filled with ‘“make- 
believe’ diamonds. In the center of the window was a genu- 
ine diamond, directly above which was the large sign, “One 
Hundred Dollars Reward will be given to any one who is 
able to tell any difference between this genuine diamond and 
the rest of the stones in this window.” 

The point was this, boys and girls. These “make-believe” 
diamonds could be bought for twenty-five cents each, which 
is, of course, far too low a price for which to buy a genuine 
diamond. But these “make-believe” diamonds looked so much 
like a genuine diamond, that after people had bought them 
they could wear them and make their friends believe that 
they were good stones for which they had paid large prices. 
There was one way, however, by which I could have picked 
out the good diamond from all the rest of the stones. Do 
you know how I could have done it? No! Well, then I 
will tell you. If I had taken the genuine diamond and a 
“make-believe” diamond into a very dark room, and laid 
them both in the palm of my hand, and then turned on the 
light of an arc lamp, the real diamond would have sparkled 
with even more brilliancy than before. But the other stone 
would have appeared to be just what it really was, namely, 
a piece of glass with a little shiny paste smeared on the back 
of it, and not a real diamond at all. The strong light showed 
the difference. 

So it is with our lives. If we pretend to be what we truly 


170 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


are not, the arc lamp of time will sooner or later reveal our 
real selves. If a boy or a girl makes mamma believe he or 
she is reading the Bible and saying a prayer every night be- 
fore going to bed, and is not doing so, it will soon tell in his 
or her daily life. He will first be unkind to sister or brother, 
then he will begin to quarrel with playmates, and so it will 
continue to go until it will soon be discovered that that boy 
or girl is not doing what mamma is made to believe. 

A number of very wicked men came into a Rescue Mis- 
sion in Philadelphia one very cold winter night, to keep from 
freezing to death. Before they were given beds for the night 
they were all asked how they had gotten into that low-down 
condition. Quite a number of different answers were given, 
but they all agreed in this one particular, namely, that every 
man started on the downward path by making those about 
him believe he was living a life which he really was not. 
Some of them, when they were boys, found it too trouble- 
some to read their Bibles every day, but allowed their mothers 
to believe they were reading them. On account of neglect- 
ing this very important thing they forgot what God requires 
good people to do, so they gradually drifted into sin. Others 
had been church members at one time in their lives, but they 
made people believe they were living clean, pure lives when 
they were not, so they were found out and good people would 
not associate with them any more. On this very cold winter 
night, as they stood up before the superintendent of the Rescue 
Mission, their ragged clothes and hard faces distinguished 
them as much from good people as the “make-believe” dia- 
mond could be distinguished from the genuine diamond under 
the light of the arc lamp. ~ 

Remember, boys and girls, if we try to make others be- 
lieve we are living good lives and really are not, we will some 
time be found out. 


RUNNING AFTER THE ARROWS 171 


64. 
RUNNING AFTER THE ARROWS 


Rev. Franx N. Merriam 


Text: “And Jonathan’s boy gathered up the arrows.” 1 Samuel 
20: 38. 


I. This boy had his work and he did it well. It was only 
running after the arrows, but he ran swiftly and as soon as 
he found the arrows brought them back to his master. 
Whether the arrow was shot at a tree just for practise or at 
a partridge or a deer for game, the boy was ready to do his 
part and, of course, he was glad to serve his master Jonathan, 
the son of King Saul. The boy had his work to do and he 
did it well. 

II. But the boy did better than he knew. One day ue 
went out with Jonathan as usual, not knowing a secret plan 
which Jonathan had made with his friend David. David 
was in great danger. He knew that the king had been angry 
with him and that he was not to blame. He told Jonathan 
that he thought his life was in danger and that he would 
have to run away. 

So, Jonathan, like the true friend he was, proposed a secret 
plan. David was to hide behind a certain rock in the field 
at a certain time, and Jonathan, having found out how his 
father, the king, felt, would come out that way, as if he were 
going hunting with his bow and arrows. “I will shoot three 
arrows,” said Jonathan, “as though I shot at a mark. And 
I will send the boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say 
unto the boy, ‘See, the arrows are on this side of you,’ then 
come back home. But if I say to the boy, “See, the arrows 
are beyond thee,’ then go, run for your life.” 

So when the day came, David hid himself in the field and 
Jonathan went out hunting with his attendant. And when 
he came within calling distance of the rock where David was, 


172 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


he said to the boy, “Run, find now the arrows which I shoot.” 
And as the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. David 
could not see, but he listened breathlessly, and pretty soon 
he heard Jonathan’s clear, strong voice, “Is not the arrow 
beyond thee?” And then Jonathan called again, “Hurry up, 
be quick,’ and when the boy came, Jonathan sent him with 
the bow and arrows back into the city. Then Jonathan and 
David had a good talk together before their long separation. 

“But the boy knew not anything; only Jonathan and David 
knew.” It is always so. The boy did better than he knew, 
and we all never can tell how much good we do by simply 
doing our duty. 

One evening, coming out.of a church in a strange city, I 
wanted to hurry to the depot but hesitated, not knowing the 
right way. A’ Boy Scout stepped up and offered to go with 
me. I expressed surprise as well as pleasure, but he said, 
“This is my business.” Yes, only his “business,” but he 
didn’t know how much he helped me. “Only Jonathan and 
David knew’; it is always so. And, of course, God knew. 
We always do better than we ourselves know, when we do 
our duty. 


THE STORY OF A JITNEY DRIVER 173 


% 


65 
THE STORY OF A JITNEY DRIVER 


Rev. Georce E. Brevans 


The other day while I was riding in a trolley car a jitney 
driver entered and took the seat next to me. I had met him 
once before, and in our conversation he told me a story which 
contains a message I want to bring to you boys and girls this 
morning. 

He said that in a large city where he drives his car, there 
is a splendid avenue which tempts almost unconsciously every 
automobile driver to quicken the speed, so that some of the 
cars seem to go like the wind. Now for the safety of the 
people who cross that avenue, the law requires that the auto- 
mobiles shall not exceed a speed limit of twenty miles an 
hour, and to see that the law is properly enforced an automo- 
bile policeman, dressed in citizen’s clothes, is kept on duty 
riding up and down the road. 

And how do you think the jitney driver said the policeman 
used to catch the law-breakers? He said that he rode in a 
small Ford car, and when the speeding automobiles, the tour- 
ing cars and the racers would find this wide, open avenue 
ahead of them and only a Ford car in sight, they would have 
a sort of contempt for the Ford machine and put on full 
speed to make quick time, knowing that they could easily 
get away from such a car. 

But here is where the jitney driver laughed when he told 
me how the policeman fools them, for he said, “Do you know 
that Ford car holds a Packard engine in it and can go sixty- 
five miles an hour whenever necessary, so you can imagine 
the surprise of the speeding automobiles to find the Ford 
overtaking them and that they are under arrest for breaking 
the law.” 

I wonder if you can think of a good text for the jitney 


174 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


driver’s story? Let me suggest one to you and let us al- 
ways remember it. The words are those of the Apostle Paul, 
“I can do all things through him who strengtheneth me.” 
Paul meant that to have the mind that was in Christ and to 
have the spirit of Christ to rule in his life, he was made a 
better and nobler man, just as the Ford car made a different 
automobile by having in it a Packard engine. 

I want to be changed by Jesus Christ as Paul was changed, 
don’t you? And just to think that Christ can take your life 
and mine as he did Paul’s and help us to overcome all that 
is little, or weak, or bad! That means if a boy has an ugly 
temper, gets angry quickly, says unkind words, is disobedient 
to parents and teachers, or tells an untruth, when such a boy 
asks Jesus Christ to become his friend and to help him to 
overcome all of his faults and littlenesses, well, a wonderful 
change takes place and that boy grows every day more manly 
in character, noble and strong, with his friends admiring him 
and speaking well of him. 

Let us never forget that the secret of such a character lies 
in the engine which drives the life. We will not forget the 
Ford car with the Packard engine, and we should always 
remember that “we can do all things through Christ who 
strengtheneth us.” 


NATURE VOICING GOD’S LOVE 175 


66 
NATURE VOICING GOD’S LOVE 
Rev. G. B. F. Hattock, D.D. 


Text: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament 
sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night 
unto night sheweth knowledge.” Psalm 19:1, 2. 


Children, how do you listen to the voices of nature? The 
heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament sheweth 
his handiwork, The things that God has made tell of his 
wisdom and power and love. How do you look at the won- 
derful and beautiful things God has made? How do you 
listen to the voices of nature? 

I have read of a little girl Her name was Gloria. Is not 
that a beautiful name? One morning little Gloria, three years 
old, stood on the back porch listening to the birds singing 
in the branches of the pretty evergreen trees. For some time 
she listened very quietly, then she turned and said, “Mamma, 
the birdies are talking to me.” 

“Are they?” said Mamma. “What are they saying?” 

Then she smiled sweetly and showed her pretty dimples as 
she answered, “Why, they are saying, ‘Gloria, I love you.’” 

Children, it is good to look on the bright side of life. Try 
to think that the trees are waving their hands to you, that 
the flowers are nodding and smiling at you, and that the 
birdies are always saying something pleasant, and it will help 
you to be happy. And, remember, too, that God made all 
these things for your use and pleasure, and it will deepen in 
your hearts every day the consciousness that God is love and 
that he loves you. That will help you to love him and serve 
him, because you love him. 


176 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


67 
HOW THE CEDAR GROWS 
(Object Sermon) 


Rev. J. Ramsey Swain 


Text: “The righteous shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” Psalm 
92:12. 


(Objects: A cedar branch and a colored photograph of 
the cedars of Lebanon.) > 

I hold in my hand a branch of a cedar of Lebanon eb 
brought it with me to America from my summer camping 
place in the Holy Land. Near one end of it is a large cone, 
as fragrant as a flower and something like what you have 
seen on the branches of our pine trees. Of course, you have 
all heard of the imaginary witch that rides through the sky 
onabroom. So I wish each one of you to get on this branch 
to-day and go back in an imaginary way with me from our 
church to the most famous woodland-temple in the world, a 
grove of very ancient cedar trees growing at the foot of 
Jebel-el-Arz, the Cedar Mountain of Syria. 

We are now there, and this photograph will acquaint us 
with our surroundings. We cannot all see every detail of 
our picture, but we can all see enough for us to recognize, 
here in the green color, a clump of giant trees, about four 
hundred in number, and in the purple and white colors above, 
a high mountain, with here and there great patches of snow 
upon its sides and summit. The trees, as you have guessed 
already, are the cedars of Lebanon, probably the most noble 
trees in all the world—trees which the Bible calls “the trees 
of the Lord,” a tree which in Jotham’s parable is called “the 
king of trees.’ : 

Now there are forty-nine texts in the Bible which speak 
of the trees of the Lord, but we have time for only one of 


HOW THE CEDAR GROWS 177 


them this morning. Here it is in Psalm 92:12,—“The 
righteous shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” I like the 
text for juniors, because it has the word “grow” in it. All 
of us are growing, both good and bad, and it is because I 
want you to grow aright that I am to tell you this morning 
how the cedar grows. 

I. The cedar tree grows downright. It sends its roots 
deep into the earth and grips the great rocks, so that you 
cannot find in the picture a single tree overthrown by the 
storms. \ 

Did you know before that the word “tree” comes from a 
very old root, and is the most typical of all trees in this as 
in so many other ways, because it is always well “rooted and 
grounded.” 

Now that is the way that the Psalmist says the righteous 
grow. They grow downright. ‘Rooted in Him” is a fine 
phrase which the Apostle Paul uses. He himself was like a 
splendid cedar tree, and he would have us rooted in Christ, 
in his teachings, in his redemptive work, in his life; for, 
rooted in him, then no storms of temptation, no sudden gusts 
of trouble can overthrow us, “nothing shall separate us from 
the love of God in Christ Jesus.’ 

Is it not a sad sight to see a great tree torn up by the roots 
and lying prostrate on the ground? But is it not always a 
sadder sight to see a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, over- 
thrown by evil? Why should any of us ever be uprooted 
if we have been planted where our thoughts and our affections 
and our wills can lay hold of the Saviour, who gives nourish- 
ment and life to us all as we “grow up in him.” 

Il. The cedar trees grow upright. The cedar tree of 
Syria often reaches a height of eighty feet. That is higher 
than the ceiling of our church. In India, it often grows to 
one hundred and fifty feet, higher than the tower of our 
church. And when it grows up in the midst of a lot of other 
trees like itself, it not only grows very tall, but also very 
straight. It was because it is such a tall and straight tree 
that the ancient merchants of Tyre and Sidon used the cedar 
for the masts of their ships, just as we use the chestnut tree 


178 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


to-day for our telegraph poles. For this reason also, in part, 
it was used for beams to support the ceiling in Solomon's 
magnificent temple at Jerusalem. 

Now there are trees which sometimes do not grow upright, 
and they are a picture of a wrong life. What do you boys 
and girls think “wrong” means? Literally, it 1s “wrung,” 
and is therefore that which is crooked and twisted. It is 
lying. It is stealing. Surely, if we grow like the cedar, we 
will not be wrung from the straight and the true. We will 
be upright in all our ways. ‘““Taking root downward, we shall 
bear fruit upward.” 

III. The cedar tree also grows outright. We read of the 
far-reaching cedars of Lebanon, Their huge trunks, from 
forty to fifty feet in circumference, send out great branches 
that cast cool shadows and fill the air with their fragrant 
and healing balsam. They are the shelter of the birds of the 
air and of the beasts of the field, and it was when we our- 
selves were weary after a year’s work, that we went there 
for rest and invigoration. Truly, a cedar tree is a beautiful 
type of a righteous life, a life that shelters, a life that blesses. 

Such a life has been that of Florence Nightingale, a woman 
who did so much for the poor, suffering soldiers of the 
Crimean War in particular. Such a life also was that of 
Mr. George C. Thomas, who died in our city the other day, 
and one who did so much for every good cause among us 
while he was alive. 

This was the life of Christ pre-eminently. He came, not 
to be ministered unto, but to minister, and so for this reason, 
as well as others also, he is called fourteen times over in the 
New Testament, “Jesus Christ, the righteous.” He also grew, 
as we read in the story of his boyhood, and we know that he 
grew out-right because of the great blessing which he wrought. 
Let us grow to heal and not to hurt, to save and to serve, 
so that even the dumb animals as well as our fathers and 
mothers, our sisters and brothers—all who come near us— 
will take delight in us. And then we shall also glorify God. 

IV. But there is still another way in which the cedar tree 
grows. It grows on-right. That is, the cedar does not de- 


HOW THE CEDAR GROWS 179 


cay. It is one of the trees of the wood which is almost in- 
destructible. These trees in the picture are thought by some 
to be as old as Solomon, and perhaps older. Therefore, you 
see, you must measure the age of a cedar, not by years, but 
by centuries. Indeed, I have seen a name cut into the bark 
of one of these trees wih the date 1769, and yet it looked as 
though it had been cut there the day before I saw it. 

And the righteous also grow on-right. They grow on 
forever and ever. They never die. The wicked die. “They 
are like the grass,” says the Psalmist, in the seventh verse of 
this Psalm. “They are destroyed forever.” 

In conclusion, I would not have you go away from your 
visit to the cedars thinking it is easy to grow to be as sym- 
metrical as the trees in Lebanon. It is not, for there are 
many things which will spoil our growth if we let them. All 
of you know how that our maple and poplar trees in West 
Philadelphia have caterpillars for enemies. But what do you 
think is the worst enemy of the cedar tree? Strange to say, 
it is the goat, for that animal eats up all the cedar trees that 
it can find when they are young and tender, and does not 
allow them to spread over the mountain sides as they would 
otherwise do. ) 

But see, in this picture there is a wall. It has been put 
here to protect the trees, and in particular, to keep away the 
goats. Is not this an illustration? We have our enemies,— 
creeping, crawling enemies, not caterpillars, but the brood 
of “the old serpent’”—a hungry, devouring enemy, not a goat, 
but Satan, “who goeth about like a lion’—and God, in his 
mercy, also puts a wall around about us. The church, the 
Sabbath-school, all the means of grace are given us that our 
enemies may be kept away and we may grow like a cedar in 
Lebanon. 

Climbing back upon our cedar branch, let us now return 
home again to our own church, and while we sit here to- 
gether and look around on these walls, let us also look again 
into our Bibles and read the verse which comes after our 
text in this Psalm. ‘Those that be planted in the house of 
the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.” Ah, we 


180 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


may then be planted here just as the cedar trees are planted 
upon the sides of Lebanon, and we may grow here like the 
trees of the Lord and make this a Woodland church indeed, 
as we all grow right in every way,—down-right, up-right, 
out-right, and on-right—for have we not learned from the 
cedar that it is in all of these ways that the righteous grow? 


oe ee 


SINGING IN A STRANGE PLACE . 181 


68 
SINGING IN A STRANGE PLACE 


Rev. JAMES STALKER 


Text; “And the prisoners heard them.” Acts 16:25. 


Some of the best men the world has ever seen have spent 
their time in prison. There was that friend of all children, 
the author of “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” who lived for twelve 
years in a prison. Joseph, you remember, spent long and 
dreary years in the prison of Egypt. Jeremiah, the prophet, 
was not only put in prison, but let down into a miry pit, 
in the center of it, and nearly killed there. Daniel and the 
three Hebrew children were put in prison. Peter the Apostle 
was shut up in prison till the angel came and opened the 
prison gates and let him out. 

But none of the great heroes of the Bible was more familiar 
with the inside of prisons than the Apostle Paul; and to-day 
we have to consider one of the strangest scenes of his prison 
life. 

I. The Singers. Here, then, the two servants of God were 
immured. The heavy doors were shut upon them; the dark- 
ness surrounded them; the fetid odors of the dungeon rose and 
caught their breath; their backs leaned against the damp wall; 
their feet could not be moved; their wounds, in which the 
clotted blood was hardening, rent them with pain; and in their 
hearts there was a bitter sense of wrong, for they knew that 
they had been imprisoned for no crime, but for a deed of 
kindness. And outside their cell door, in the large outer room, 
the blackguards and vagabonds of Philippi, who had been im- 
prisoned for all sorts of crimes, kept up a din, with oaths and 
coarse laughter and ribald songs. 

But the hours wore by, and the night fell over the city and 
over the prison. The darkness in the cell of Paul and Silas 
could not be deepened; but in the room outside the red glow 


182 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


faded from the window, and the noise of the prisoners sank 
to silence as they flung themselves on their pallets to sleep. 
The gaoler and his family were asleep; the prisoners in the 
large room were all asleep; midnight and silence and sleep 
enveloped the prison building. 

But what sound is this which steals out in the silent mid- 
night? It fills the large room where the prisoners are sleep- 
ing. One after another awakes; he never heard such music 
before; he sits up on his couch and listens. Is it angels 
pouring their songs on the midnight, like those who sang on 
the plains of Bethlehem? Where can it be coming from? 
Is it possible that it is coming out of the inner prison? Are 
these two broken, bleeding men, whom they had seen thrust 
in there, singing? 

Yes; it was even so! Paul and Silas could not sleep. 
Their smarting wounds would not allow them. But how did 
they spend the long and heavy hours? In complaining to each 
other of their misery? In cursing the injustice of those who 
had imprisoned them? In weeping and groaning over their 
pains? 

No, no; they talked to each other cheerfully and pleasantly, 
till they forgot their misery and their wounds; they prayed 
together until they felt as if they were in heaven rather than 
in a dungeon; and at last their hearts grew so full and so 
happy that they could no longer restrain themselves, but broke 
out together into the song which awakened their fellow-pris- 
oners. 

But what was it that made them able to be joyful and to 
sing for joy in such circumstances? It was not that they 
were brave men, though they were very brave. It was not 
that their friendship for each other was so strong that they 
were able to drive care away from each other’s minds, though 
they were the best of friends. These things would not have 
been sufficient to make them triumph over pain and gloom 
and wrong as they did. What was it, then? I think I know. 
There was a third person in the cell. If the gaoler had opened 
the door and looked in, he would not have seen him. But 
Paul and Silas saw him. It was Jesus. He was with them; 


SINGING IN A STRANGE PLACE 183 


and his presence and his love made the midnight bright, and 
changed the clasp of the stocks into perfect freedom, and 
made them forget their pains and their wrongs, and changed 
the dungeon into a temple, and the groans of pain into psalms 
of praise. It was for his sake they had been beaten and 
imprisoned, and that was enough. He was with them, and 
all was well. 

II. The Listeners. Our text says, “The prisoners heard 
them”; but it ought to say, “The prisoners listened to them.” 
They sat up on their pallets, and tried to catch the strange 
sounds. They rose and crept to the door of the dungeon, 
and bent their heads toward it, eager to catch every word. 
There they stood, an awe-stricken group, listening breathlessly 
in the darkness. 

The silence and the midnight hour heightened the effect. 
Have you ever heard a nightingale sing? If you have not, 
you cannot conceive what a flood of song it is, twittering and 
shaking, and piping and soaring, running over all the notes 
of the scale from the lowest to the highest. But much of 
the extraordinary effect of this bird’s music is due to the cir- 
cumstances I have just alluded to, that it sings at night, when 
‘all the other songsters of the grove are hushed, when the 
world is wrapped in silence, and the mind, undistracted by 
sights and sounds of the daytime, can listen with all its fac- 
ulties. So the Psalms of the Apostles gained much of their 
effect from the silence and the midnight hour. 

What chiefly riveted the prison audience was wonder at 
the joy and cheerfulness of Paul and Silas. This was the 
miracle. How, after the treatment they had received, and 
in the circumstances in which they were, could sounds so 
calm, so cheerful, so joyful, come from them? What was 
the secret these two men possessed? The prisoners knew they 
had nothing which could make them glad in such circum- 
stances. They had sought happiness in revelry and abandon- 
ment, but they had discovered none like this. Ah, this is 
always what rivets the attention of sinners, when they see 
that Christians have a joy that is far better than any other 
happiness in the world. I wish that Christians would let 


184 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


the bird which sings in their breast be heard by others as well 
as themselves. 

There is an exquisite sketch written by the hand which 
penned the immortal story of “Rab and His Friends,” and 
now, alas! lies still forever in the grave, of a quaint old char- 
acter of other days, well known to Dr. Brown, because he 
was his father’s beadle. The sketch was written with the 
love and humor of which the author’s heart was full; and 
among other traits of his humble friend he gives this touching 
one: He had been married in his youth, but after a year his 
wife and their one child died together; but always afterward 
he kept up the practice of family worship, though quite alone, 
giving out the psalm and the chapter, as if his dear wife had 
been there. He lived in a high story in the Canongate, and 
his voice, in the notes of Martyrdom or Coleshill, sounded 
morning and evening through the thickly tenanted land; and 
many a careless foot was arrested and many a heart touched 
by that strange sound. I hope there are doors in our large 
blocks of houses where the passers-by are impressed with the 
same grave, sweet melody. 

I wish you to sing. Ah, but I wish most of all that you 
should have the joy which gives birth to song. It is the heart, 
and not the throat, in which song has its true habitation. It 
is in this cage the bird of song resides. When you sing of 
free grace and dying love, do you feel what you are singing? 
Do you feel these things so much that you cannot help singing? 
This is the right kind of song. If you can sing thus, then 
you will sow the seeds of joy wherever you go, and you will 
see them springing up in the new and happy lives of those 
who listen to you. 


a he a a ee ee 


i . ie 2 rte is 3 vee ; ae po 
ae ae oe Re aoe oe ae ee a 


ae 


A LESSON FROM THE LILIES 185 


69 


A LESSON FROM THE LILIES 
Rev. G. B. F. Hauttock, D.D. 


Text: “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, 
neither do they spin, yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his 
glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Matthew 6: 28. 


Consider the lilies. They can teach us many things. Con- 
sider their growth. Consider their beauty. Consider their 
unselfishness. They are clothed with beauty. They grow 
without anxiety. They never fret because of heat, drouth, 
rain or cold. God takes care of lilies. They do not grow 
by chance. These are all lessons from the lilies. But there 
is a special lesson, sometimes overlooked, we ought to learn. 
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.” Yes, that 
is it, how they grow. 

A visitor to Morningside Heights, New York City, casts an 
admiring glance upward to the “Cathedral of St. John the 
Divine,’ now rising slowly but surely to its magnificent com- 
pletion. But to simple admiration would surely succeed a 
wonder beyond power of expression were the beholder as he 
stands gazing, to see the sublime structure, wall and arch and 
dome and tower, going higher and higher all of their own 
undirected and unaided accord—no architect, superintendent 
or workmen in sight; no scaffolding, and not only no derrick 
with its long sweeping arm stretched out to lift huge blocks 
and beams, but no beams or blocks in sight to lift. 

Yet how, again, must both admiration and wonder mount 
to almost incredulous amazement were the already rapt be- 
holder to be assured that all that the architect had done was 
to bury his plans and specifications at foundation depth, hav- 
ing first imparted to them the power to do as they would like 
with the earthly material around them; to change that form- 
less material into bronze, marble, steel or wood; to give to 


186 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


each product thus transformed its own fit and size and shape; 
to lift each to its own proper place; and, to crown all, power 
to drop from turret-top and pinnacle fully formed and safely 
folded plans and specifications for other like and alike self- 
erecting cathedrals! 

In such case, supposing it to exist, will not this wondering 
beholder feel himself constrained to pause a while and very 
thoughtfully to “consider” this building—“how it grows!” 

Liles grow. Cathedrals do not. Oaks grow. Church 
buildings do not. How wonderful the power of God! The 
lilies grow. “They toil not, neither do they spin.” They 
just grow. They grow the way in which God intended they 
should. No wonder when Christ wanted us to think of God’s 
power and providence he said, ‘Consider the lilies, how they 
grow.” 





8 se Ses oe Fig 


GOOD MORNING 187 


70 
GOOD MORNING 
Rev. James A. BrimeLow 


The other day I was awakened by what seemed to be a won- 
derful melody of voices outside my bedroom window. For 
just a few minutes I hardly knew whether I was dreaming 
or whether I was in some fairyland listening to music which 
belonged not to earth. I just listened, and I kept on listening. 
It was all so wonderful, that I felt that if I moved I would 
break the charm which seemed to be over everything in the 
room. So I continued to listen and I was not long in finding 
out the great secret of the voices. Those voices were not 
dreamy ones, neither did they belong to heaven, or to some 
fairyland, but were simply the voices of birds which were 
uttering their morning’s notes of thankfulness and praise in 
the ear of heaven and in the ear of their Creator God. Oh, 
I wish I could just translate that music for you, for it seemed 
to me the most delightful music that I have ever heard! 

So I have been thinking about the voices of those birds 
and this is what voices have seemed to say to me—that those 
birds were just singing their notes of good morning into the 
lite of the new day which they felt had dawned for them 
and for the world. And the notes of their good morning 
were making a sweeter and lovelier place for many people, 
for their notes of music never left me through that day, and 
I hope will never leave me as long as I live. 

So, children, I want you to learn the way of greeting each 
new day with a glad and joyous welcome. Never be ashamed 
to say good morning to mother or father as you greet them 
each morning. Do not forget others who may be in your 
homes, and when you go to your school never forget your 
teacher. And, above all, never forget your Father in heaven, 
who, to make a joyous good morning for you, sent his Son 


188 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


into our world and who in the end died on a cross so that 
we all might come to know the glad and joyous good morning 
which he has waiting for us in his larger world of heaven. 

I want to read you some words which I have come to love 
because they were written by one who had heard the voices 
of the birds singing their glad and joyous good morning into 
the ear of the world. 


The little birds sang East, 

The little birds sang West, 

And I smiled to think God’s greatness 
Flows round our incompleteness, 
Round our restlessness his rest. 


So my text, if I may have one for you, is this: ‘““My voice 
shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will 
I direct my prayer to thee, and will look up.” 


THE TWO MONKS WHO TRIED TO QUARREL 189 


71 


THE TWO MONKS WHO TRIED TO 
QUARREL 


Rev. Frank T. Bayxuey, D.D. 


Text: “Love seeketh not her own.” 1 Corinthians 13:5. 


Have you, children, heard of the monks who used, many 
years ago, to live all by themselves, far from towns and cities, 
in lonely buildings that were called monasteries? They had 
no wives, and children, and their big houses could hardly be 
called homes. I think they must have been very lonely! A'nd 
I am sure they might have been happier and have done more 
good if they had lived with other people. You know Jesus 
said his disciples were to be the “salt of the earth.” And 
the place for the salt is not on the top shelf of the pantry, 
shut up tight in a box to be safe, but in the midst of the 
cooking to flavor it. 

Yet many of these monks were good men, who lived as 
they really thought was right and best. They used to rise 
very early in the morning and work in their gardens, after 
they had prayed; and they made beautiful copies of the Bible, 
using bright colors that are still beautiful to-day. They were 
fond of music too, and used to sing and play together a 
great deal. JI have heard an interesting story of two of these 
old monks. They had lived together in the same monastery 
for a good many years, and always lived in love and peace. 
Indeed, those who live in love always live in peace. One 
day one of them said to the other, “Let us have a quarrel!” 
But his friend replied, “A quarrel? I don’t know how to 
quarrel!” ‘Well,’ said the first, “I will show you.” So it 
was agreed that they should try it. And the first undertook | 
to show the other how to begin. “TI will take this brick,” he 
said, “and put it down on the ground between us. And when 
I say, ‘This is mine,’ you must say, ‘No, it is mine.” Then 


190 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


I will insist that it is mine, and so we will get up a quarrel.” 

“Very well,” said the other. They were smiling as they looked 
into each other’s faces and the first laid the brick on the 
ground. I think we should have laughed had we seen them, 
don’t you? It seems queer to begin a quarrel in that way! 
But they had agreed on the plan, and so they began. “This 
brick is mine!” said he who was to commence. “No,” said 
the other; “it is mine!’ “But I say it is mine!” the first re- 
plied. “Well, then,’ said the second, “well, then—take it!” 

And this is the history of the quarrel; the whole of it, for 
of course they couldn’t quarrel after that. Really, the first 
monk didn’t want the brick at all as soon as he found the 
other didn’t! But I think they might have really quarrelled 
if the dispute had gone on. 

I think the story is a good illustration of something which 
Paul says about love: “Love seeketh not her own, is not easily 
provoked.” You may find this, with much more that is beau- 
tiful, in the first letter which Paul wrote to the church in 
Corinth, Ask your father to read it to you. Perhaps he 
will tell you, too, of some quarrels over just as silly matters 
as the question who owned the brick. There have been many 
such quarrels in families, quarrels among neighbors and even 
wars between nations, sometimes costing millions of dollars 
and the loss of many lives. You see, dear children, that when 
each one is thinking only of what is his, and is determined to 
have it, it is easy to get up a quarrel over a very small thing. 
But when each is thinking kindly of his neighbor, too, a little 
yielding is not hard, and is sure to prevent a quarrel. 

Three things I ask you children to remember: how many 
it takes to make a quarrel; how a quarrel may be stopped, 
and, above all, our beautiful text, “Love seeketh not her own.” 





GOD’S WHISPERING GALLERY 191 


72 
GOD’S WHISPERING GALLERY 


Rev. JAMEs A. BriIMELOw 


Not so very long ago I was in the great cathedral called 
St. Paul’s at London. I was greatly interested in many things 
—in the inscription over its door to its architect and builder, 
Sir Christopher Wren, which says, “If you seek my monu- 
ment, look around you’; in the delightful music which I 
heard; in the beautiful painting of Holman Hunt’s Light 
of the World; and, above everything else, in the wonderful 
Whispering Gallery in which the lowest whisper can be heard 
distinctly. It was all so remarkable that for a long time I was 
greatly entranced, and even to-day as I think of it I am just 
as much delighted as I was on the day I was there. But 
it was that Whispering Gallery which held my attention, and 
I want it to hold yours to-day. 

God has made us such wonderful beings, given to us such 
wonderful bodies and has put us in such a wonderful world 
that we are and will forever be under obligation to him. But 
there are so many times when we just think that what we 
do concerns no one but ourselves, and that no one hears or 
sees us in the things we do. We forget that the world is 
just one large whispering gallery in which the faintest and 
smallest things are seen and heard in their loudest notes, and 
whether they are good or ill it matters little, and it behooves 
each of us to be very careful what we say and what we do. 

And there are just two things which will help us to be 
and do the things which are right and which tend for the 
world’s right, if we will only follow them. The first is this: 
We should never say anything but what we should like our 
parents to hear. Second: We should never say anything but 
what we should like God to hear. 

I was speaking to a boy only the other day about some 


192 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


words which he had spoken, and I just said: “What would 
mother or father say if they knew what you had said ?” SOhgs 
said my boy friend, “they will never know.” Ah, but in some 
remarkable way things do get round to father and mother, 
and, what is more, they reach the ears of God ; and, oh, what 
must he think at some of the words we speak? 

It is God’s Great Whispering Gallery in which we all live. 
Our faintest whispers are heard by him, and those whispers 
are tending for the gladness or the sorrow of the world, and 
even his Great Eternal World. | 


= +x HN x = RES soa 
a ey eK Soa a = 


re y/o) oe 


ot 





THY WORD IS A LAMP 193 


73 
THY WORD IS A LAMP 
Rev. G. B. F. Hautocr, D.D. 


Text: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” 
Psalm 119: 105. 


When you enter any harbor in the world, where the channel 
is marked by buoys, you will find that those on your right, 
as you pass in, are painted red, and those on your left black. 
If you should see one painted in red and black horizontal 
bands, the ship should run as close to it as possible, because 
that indicates the center of a narrow channel. 

Buoys with red and black vertical stripes always mark the 
end of spits and the outer and inner ends of extensive reefs, 
where there is a channel on each side. When red and black 
checkers are painted on a buoy, it marks either a rock in the 
Open sea or an obstruction in the harbor of small extent, with 
channel all around. 

If there are two such obstructions and a channel between 
them, the buoy on the right of you will have red and white 
checkers and the one on the left will have black and white 
checkers. 

If a wreck obstructs the channel, a green buoy will be placed 
on the sea-side of the wreck, with the word “wreck’’ plainly 
painted on it in white letters, provided there is a clear channel 
all around it; otherwise, an even number will be painted in 
white above the word “wreck,” when the buoy is on the right 
side of the channel, and an odd number if the buoy is on the 
left. 

The ocean is charted. Buoys are placed to tell where to 
avoid rocks and shoals and where the safe channels are. Life 
is charted. That is, the ocean of life is charted. The Bible 
is a buoy. Yes, it is a series of buoys or system of buoys, 
telling where are the rocks on which young people and older 


194 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


people too may wreck their souls. But, better, it tells where 
the safe channels are. The God of grace is the God of the 
Bible. He is our Father who provides that we shall know 
the evils to avoid, how to avoid them, and the best ways to 
sail in the channel of safety. Let us think of God’s goodness 
in warning us so plainly from the wrong, and so graciously 
guiding us in the way of right and safety. 

Some buoys in the ocean are lighted. God’s word is a 
lighted buoy—it is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our 
path, 





PAINTING THE FACE ON THE INSIDE 195 


74 
PAINTING THE FACE ON THE INSIDE 
Rey. James M. Farrar, D.D. 


Text: “Saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.” Acts 6:15. 


Your face has two sides—the outside and the inside. It 
is like a stained-glass window—needs a light inside to reveal 
its beauty outside. Education lights your lamps. The school 
work lights the intellect, the church work lights the soul. 
These lamps shine through what is called character. If the 
character is beautiful, the face is beautiful ; 1f the character 
is not beautiful, the face is ugly. 

The creation of man was God’s best and greatest work. 
The face is the most beautiful part of his best and greatest 
work. In an old legend we read that when Adam was driven 
out of the Garden of Eden he asked the angel who kept the 
gate, “What shall I bring back to God when I return?” The 
angel replied, “Bring him back the face he gave you in the 
garden, and I will let you in.’ A child’s face is like the face 
God gave man in Eden. Keep your lamps burning and your 
face will be your “pass” into God’s garden. | 

Children of a larger growth sometimes paint their faces on 
the outside. Their lamps need trimming. Stephen’s face was 
painted on the inside. His brain lamp and soul lamp were 
shining through a beautiful character. Those who watched 
him when he was being stoned “saw his face as it had been 
the face of an angel.” Before the beautiful face the gates 
of heaven swung wide open. 

I found a story for you in ‘‘Zion’s Herald.” Shall I tell 
it? 

“Painting, are you?” asked Uncle Jim. “Well, well!” and 
he studied Patty’s rose and Betty’s morning-glory with the 
eye of an art student. ‘How would you like to paint bottles 
as the Chinese paint them?” 


196 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


‘Do tell us about the bottles,’ shouted the twins, for they 
hoped a story was coming. 

“Wait till I go up to my trunk,” said Uncle Jim. And 
they did wait, for so many pretty and interesting things had 
come out of Uncle Jim’s trunk since he had been visiting 
them. He soon came down, holding a little bottle not more 
than three inches long, and its neck so small you could not 
possibly have thrust even a very slender lead-pencil into it. 
It was painted beautifully, too, the twins thought. On one 
side a Chinese lady with flowing robes of pink and blue and 
green, carrying gorgeous flowers, and with a long-legged bird 
nestling against her; and on the other side a vase of cherry- 
blossoms and a whole group of curious pieces of Chinese 
pottery. Then there were decorations in black all around 
the edges and side of the bottle, a Chinese lettering that the 
twins looked at with wonder. 

“And what a lot of painting to go on such a little bottle!” 
exclaimed Patty. 

“In the bottle,” corrected Uncle Jim. ‘That was all painted 
on the inside of the bottle, and I saw the artist doing it my- 
seliyy 

“Oh! Oh!” said the twins together. 

“There is just one place in the world where they do this,” 
Uncle Jim went on, “a town in China that I visited to see them 
work. The artists are in a room that has no side windows 
at all, but is lighted by glass overhead. They lie on their 
backs, on a mass of green branches and hold these little bottles 
up against the light. The glass has been carefully ground 
inside, and they use very slender-pointed brushes. You can 
see what a tiny opening the bottle has. Think of putting your 
brush through that and then managing to paint from the in- 
side. Yes, the bristles are curved a little, or they could not 
possibly do it. Pretty neat piece of work, isn’t it?’ 

“Oh, yes!” Patty drew a long breath, and Betty drew 
another. It was all so true and exact. Not a slip had the 
brush made. Patty and Betty are now coaxing Uncle Jim 


to get them a tiny electric light put inside the bottle—they — 7 





PAINTING THE FACE ON THE INSIDE 197 


want to see the pictures at night when they wake up after a 
dream. 

Character is painted best when you are on your back looking 
up to God. The best light comes from above. The brush js 
made from your thoughts, the colors are found in your con- 
duct, and the pictures are sketched by your imagination. The 
transparent something upon which the pictures are painted is 
called character. The lamps back of and shining through char- 
acter are your intellect and your soul. 

If the angel looked at your face, would he pass you into the 
garden? 


198 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


79 
ECHO HOLLOW 


Rev. Evcene C. Carper 


On a recent Saturday morning the Scout Master of the 
Boy Scout troop of our town accompanied about twelve or 
thirteen of the boys on a “chestnut hike.” Each boy took 
his own lunch along, not forgetting to provide steak, chops, 
or sausages that could be eee over the camp fire that was 
built at noon. 

But it is not the camp Ae or the lunch that we are inter- 


ested in at this time. While the boys were “beating up” the 


woods, being spread out in a long line to make sure that no 
chestnut tree should escape making tribute to the common 
store, two of the boys became so far separated from the others 
that they could not be located for a time and the boys began 
systematically calling their names as they tramped along. 
Finally the main group came out into a piece of land that 
was shaped very much like a saucer, the rim of the hollow, 
or basin, being thickly wooded for half of the circumference 
and the remaining portion being free from trees and brush. 

As the boys mounted the bare side of the hill and continued 
to call for their companions they suddenly became aware that 
their calls were being echoed back to them from some point 
apparently in the heart of the woods and off to the north 
of the place where they had come out into the open. At some 
points the echo was very distinct, while at others it was not 
so clear, though easily distinguished. It was observed also 
that the voices of some of the boys were thrown back in 
much more distinct tones than was the case with others. This 
led the lads to attempt to discover the point on the hill at which 
the best echo could be obtained, and also to discover which 
boy’s voice was most nearly in tune with the echo. All this 
was accomplished by spreading out in fan shape around the 





ECHO HOLLOW 199 


hill and calling in turn until the best focus was revealed, and 
then, in turn, having each boy stand at that vantage point 
and try his own voice out. 

One boy in particular got far better results than any of the 
others. It seemed that another boy with the same pitched 
voice and using the same volume was speaking back his words 
to him from somewhere in the woods. He had found just 
the place where his voice was in tune with his surroundings. 
It was his focus-point in Echo Hollow, for that is what the 
boys named the place they had discovered. 

As the experience was talked over on the hike back to town 
the Scout Master pointed out to the boys how much like 
“Echo Hollow” life itself is. There is a focus-point in life, 
a place where we get the best possible response from the world 
around us, a place in which we really fit. We have not found 
it yet, but we will if we persevere. 

The boy whose father owned the farm over which the 
scouts had been hiking that autumn day had never discovered 
“Echo Hollow,” and though he had lived on that farm all 
of his life he never had heard the voice of the boy who had 
been always ready to speak to him out of the woods if he 
would only call to him from the hillside. We all get a sym- 
pathetic response from the world around us when we stand 
in the right place, speak the right word, and use the right 
tone. Somewhere there is such a place for each of us, and 
it is not very far from home. 


200 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


76 
FORTY MARTYRS AND FORTY CROWNS 


Rev. W. Dovewias SwWAFFIELD 


Many years ago it was harder to be a Christian than it is 
to-day. People were killed by cruel tortures for being Chris- 
tians. Once in the days of Rome forty Christians were taken 
prisoners and because they would not go back on Jesus were 
sentenced to stand naked upon the icy river till they should 
die. A’ Roman soldier was placed on guard and told that 
if any one would forsake Christ he would be spared. Soon 
the wintry cold began to do its work and at last one brave 
soul sank upon the ice in death. But when he fell it seemed 
as if every one heard strange music singing, “Forty martyrs 
and forty crowns, be thou faithful unto death and I will 
give thee a crown of life.” Again a Christian fell, and again 
the same song. One by one through the night they died till 
alt but one had gone. This one, brave till now, looked about — 
him, saw his thirty-nine brave companions lying still in death, 
the wintry wind pierced his heart, he thought of the freedom 
that might be his, and cowardly decided to forsake his Lord. 
He rushed from the ice, threw out his hands to the Roman 
guard, and claimed the promise of pardon. But the soldier 
had heard that chant all through the night, “Forty martyrs 
and forty crowns, be thou faithful unto death and I will give 
thee a crown of life.’ The faith of the brave had won him. 
“Here is my robe, take it, and I will take your place upon the 
ice.” And the brave Roman ere long heard that song as the 
angels sang it for the fortieth time when he paid the price 
of his love for Christ. 

There are many things to tempt us to deny our Lord. But 
the crown of life is only for those who are faithful until death. 

One of the most interesting buildings in beautiful Washing- 
ton is the Patent Office. Here you might see the models of 


FORTY MARTYRS AND FORTY CROWNS 201 


all the famous inventions which have been patented in the 
United States. It is an even better place to visit than a great 
museum because it tells the stories of how the dreams of 
many men and women have come true. One day not long ago 
a letter was found in the office of this building which bore 
the date 1833. The letter read something like this: 


“Dear Sir: Because everything that can be invented has al- 
ready been invented, it is inevitable that this office shall soon 
go out of business. Inasmuch as I will soon lose my position, 
I hereby resign to look for work elsewhere. 

“Yours truly, 
“SO0-AND. ‘S07’ 


What a fool that young man was! There is always some- 
thing new to be discovered, something great to be done, some 
good to be achieved. He lacked imagination. 

Jesus knew that there had been great prophets, great preach- 
ers and teachers, but he was the greatest prophet and preacher 
and teacher because he always aimed for the highest. We 
boys and girls can be great and good if we look to Jesus 
and try to live as he did. The greatest dream we can have 
is that we may do something great for Christ. 


202 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


7 


THE ANGER TREE 
Rev. G. B. F. Hatuocx, D.D. 


TExtT: “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger ... be put away 
from you.” Ephesians 4:31. 


In our church family there are many children. This is not 
Children’s Day, for that comes the second Sabbath in June. 
But every day is Children’s Day in the church family. Some- 
times big people enjoy children’s sermons, or sermons for 
children, too. 

This sermon is suggested by a very peculiar sort of a tree 
I have read about. In Idaho, we are told, there exists a 
species of the acacia tree which is entitled to be classed as 
one of the wonders of plant life. This tree attains a height 
of about eight feet. When full grown it closes its leaves 
together in coils each day at sunset, and curls its twigs to the 
shape of pigtails. When the tree has thus settled itself for 
its night’s sleep, it is said that, if touched, it will flutter 
as if agitated or impatient at the disturbance. 

It is averred that the oftener the foliage is molested the 
more violent will become the shaking of the branches. Finally, 
it is further alleged, if the shaking is continued, the tree will 
at length emit a nauseating odor quite sufficient to induce a 
headache in the case of the person disturbing the tree. 

In Idaho, it is called the ‘anger tree,’ and it is said that 
it was discovered by men who, on making camp for the night, 
placed one end of a canvas covering over one of the sensitive 
bushes, using it for a support. Immediately the tree began 
to jerk its branches sharply. The motion continued, with in- 
creasing “nervousness,” until at last came a sickening odor that 
drove the tired campers to a more friendly location. 

Curiosity prompted an investigation. One of the “anger 
trees’ was dug up and thrown to one side. It is said that 


THE ANGER TREE 203 


immediately upon being removed from the ground the tree 
opened its leaves, its twigs lost their pigtails, and for some- 
thing over a couple of hours the outraged branches showed 
their indignation by a series of quakings, which grew weaker 
and weaker, and ceased only when the foliage had withered. 

It is evident that anger is not a very wholesome thing either 
for children or for a tree. The agitation of the little tree 
is not a moral fault but when a big person or a little one 
gets so angry that he “shakes himself to pieces” it is a great 
evil. One of the things the Bible tells us to do is to “put 
away anger.” “But now ye also put off all those; anger, 
wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your 
mouth.” I think that both children and older people can learn 
a good lesson from the little ‘anger tree.” 


204 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


78 


RHODA: THE GIRL WHO WAS 
CALLED MAD 


Rev. A. McAvustang, D.D. 


Text: “And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came 
to hearken, named Rhoda,” etc. Acts 12:,13-15. 


I. This girl had a beautiful name, “Rhoda.” Many Jew- 
ish and other parents gave to their children the names of 
certain plants, trees, and flowers. Hadassa, a myrtle; Su- 
sanna, a lily; Tamar,-a palm-tree. The name of this girl 
means a rose. That is beautiful, because it leads us to think 
of the garden in summer time, and one of the prettiest flowers 
there. Have you such a name? Be content. It was given 
to you by others. They, not you, are responsible. Besides, 
to grumble about it is to do no good. The time may come 
when it will be your duty to give names to children. Select 
those only that are associated with lovely things. Let all the 
words which you employ in writing and speaking be of the 
same description. 

II. This girl was a domestic servant. The dwelling in 
which she lived was called the house of Mary. She is brought 
before us as the person who should open the door when any 
one knocked. This fact leads us to believe that she is a 
servant in this house. In this respect she has four advan- 
tages which are superior to those who have other situations. 
(1) She is more free from care. (2) She is more free from 
danger. (3) She is more free from temptations. (4) She 
is more secure in her situation. Masters and mistresses value 
a good servant, and will keep her as long as she does her 
duty. To serve in a good family is exceedingly honorable. 
To show this the Bible has recorded some of the names and 
doings of servants. 

III. This girl was a Christian, She may not have said 


a i as 


RHODA: THE GIRL WHO WAS CALLED MAD 205 


that she was; no one may have said it either; yet we think 
she was a Christian from her actions. (1) She was serving 
in a Christian home. (2) There was a prayer meeting in 
that home, and she loved to be there. (3) She was quite 
familiar with the voice of one of the Apostles. This proves 
that she had often listened to him. All these, more than any 
words she could utter, show that she was a Christian. Your 
parents, teachers, and above all Jesus, wish you to be Chris- 
tians. These are his own words: “Suffer the little children 
to come unto me.” It is much easier to come unto him now 
than it will be at any future period. 

IV. This girl was very cautious. It was night. All 
around lonely and still. Some one knocking at the door. 
Did she go and open it at once? Instead of that she went 
to the door and said: ‘“‘Who is there?’ This teaches us that 
she was cautious. Be like her. Never open the door at night 
until you know who is outside. Be cautious in all other things 
—in writing to others, speaking about others, and acting in 
the presence of others. 

V. This girl was accused of madness. The Apostle 
Peter had been in prison because he was good, and Herod 
the King was bad. Mark the way he was delivered by the 
angel. He was knocking at the door. When this girl heard 
his voice, she was so glad that she could not open the door. 
Just like a good young person. The same thing has often 
happened. She ran to tell those in the house who had been 
praying for the Apostle that he was at the door. Instead of 
believing her they said she was mad. This did not make her 
angry, for she knew that she was right. By and by the door 
was opened, and the Apostle entered. If you know you are 
right, and others say you are wrong, be not angry, but calm. 
The truth sooner or later will appear to others as it does to 
you. 


206 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


79 
AN ENEMY OF THE “NO GOOD” BUSINESS 
- (Temperance Sermon) 
Rev. Epwin Hamuin Carr 


“Fire! Fire!’ screamed nine-year-old Jimmie Roberts, as 
he dashed in at the front door of his home—nearly knocking 


the door from its hinges, astounding his Grandmother, with 


whom he lived, and arousing the neighbors. 

“Where is the fire, Jimmie?’ said Grandma, as Jimmie 
danced up and down like a wild Indian. 

“Oh, it is Mr. Ball’s furniture store!’ shouted Jimmie, 
tugging at his Grandmother and begging her to hurry. “And 
all the nice things are burning up! Hurry, Grandma! Isn’t 
it too bad. All those nice tables, and chairs, and couches, 
and fine furniture burning up.” ! 

“Yes, it is too bad, Jimmie,”’ said Grandma, as she hurried 
along, ‘“‘too bad to have such fine things destroyed.” And 
Jimmie heard all the neighbors who gathered about the fire 
say, “It is too bad. It is too bad. Such a great loss.” 

One week after the burning of the furniture store, Jimmie 
again rushed into the house shouting, “Fire! Fire! Grand- 
ma!” ‘This time it was the saloon that was on fire. ‘Hurry! 
Hurry! Grandma hurry, I want to go down and see it.” 

To Jimmie’s great surprise Grandma said, “You shall not 
go near it, I am glad it is burning.” 

Jimmie fretted, and cried, and pleaded, but it was of no 
use, for Grandma was determined. However, she was a nice 
old Grandma, and every one loved her; and she knew how 
to care for boys. So she took Jimmie gently by the hand, 
and said as she drew him lovingly to her, “Now, Jimmie, my 
lad, I'll tell you something, listen. You and I were sorry a 
week ago when the furniture store burned, but, Jimmie, I’m 
not sorry that this saloon is burning, and I’ll tell you why.” 


— ee 


AN ENEMY OF THE “NO GOOD” BUSINESS 207 


Then she patted him lovingly and continued, ‘““When the fur- 
niture store burned something good was burned, and it was 
a great loss, but this is a ‘no-good’ business, and it does lots 
of harm, Jimmie.” 

Then Grandma wiped the corner of her eyes with the corner 
of her apron at the memory of the damage this saloon had 
done to Jimmie’s father, for he had died a drunkard. 

“Now, Jimmie,” continued Grandma, “just think what a 
terrible loss it would be if all the grocery stores, and all the 
shoe stores, and all the furniture stores, and all the good 
stores, not only in our town but in our county, and all in 
our state, and all in our whole Nation, should be destroyed. 
What an awful loss it would be. Everybody would be so 
sorry. But, Jimmie, if all the saloons, and all the distilleries, 
not only in our county, and state, and Nation, were destroyed, 
almost everybody would be glad. Jimmie, the saloon busi- 
ness is a ‘no-good’ business. I wonder why it is that the 
Nation permits a business which if it were destroyed almost 
everybody would be happy.” 

That evening Grandma sent Jimmie down to the grocery 
for some tea, and when he saw the ashes of the saloon, a 
great feeling came into his heart and he said to himself, 
“Grandma is right, and I am going to be a mighty enemy of 
the ‘no-good’ business.” 

Every boy and girl should resolve right now to be a mighty 
enemy of the “no-good”’ business. 


208 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


80 
CHRIST AND THE CHILD 
TEXT: “Jesus called a little child unto Him.” Matthew 18:2. 


I. The wonder of it! There was no place for children 
in the philosophy of Plato and other sages. Infinitely greater 
and wiser than all of them, Jesus espouses the cause of the 
little ones. 

I]. The beauty of it! What a subject for a canvas! 
Picture the dear Son of God calling the child with softest 
voice and sweetest smile. Even mother had not called more 
tenderly. Note the response. No hesitation, no fear. 

“Would you go to Jesus if he were here, and I told you 
to?” said a fond mother to her child. “Yes, mother, I’d go 
without telling,” was the beautiful reply. 

Ill. The lessons of it. Jesus still calls the children. He 
invites them to a knowledge of his saving grace. He has 
been pleased to save many in early youth. Samuel, Timothy, 
Zinzendorf. Rowland Hill was 18, Geo. Muller 20, Getie 
Spurgeon quite a boy when they were converted. 

IV. Let this embolden seekers. Jesus does not despise 
your youth, your ignorance, your weakness. I noticed once 
that some bold birds had built their nest in the royal crown 
surmounting the great iron gates at Sandringham. Do you 
think the King would have them turned away? I don't. 
And I am even more sure that the gentle Jesus will not cast 
you out if you come to him with your trust and love. 

V. Let this decide hesitaters. Some one says, “Repent- 
ance can hardly be too soon.” 

Conversion after forty is comparatively rare. 

“Tell them it is never too soon to love Jesus,” said a good 
woman to a preacher, as he went off to a children’s service. 

Rey. Chas. Brown says, in his “Talks to Children” on the 





o> he B ” 


‘> 
by 
4 
oh! 
fe 
2 





CHRIST AND THE CHILD 209 


second part of “Pilgrim’s Progress”: “It is a pity everybody 
does not start early.” 

Should not Jesus have the best? The fruit with the bloom 
on it, the flowers with the dew on them, the coins bright from 
the mint—such are glad, young lives. 

Tons of flowers are landed in Cornwall from the Scilly 
Isles in earliest spring—the fairest flowers of all! 


“The first, the first, oh, nought like it, 
Our after years can bring; 
For summer hath no flowers so sweet 
As those of early spring.” 


210 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


81 


HOW TO BECOME GREAT 
nes 


TEXT: 2 Kings 3:11. 


Three kings went out to battle against another. The dis- 
pute lay between the first and the fourth; the second and 
third were “drawn into it.” That sort of thing often hap- 
pens in schools and families too, but it is always unwise to 
get mixed up in other people’s quarrels. 

These kings went out with a great army of men and horses, 
as well as other animals necessary for food and burden; but 
instead of taking a direct journey, they occupied a week in 
going a long way round, until at last they found themselves 
in a place where there was no water, and all the supply they 
had brought with them was gone; so they were in a dread- 
ful fix. 

Then one of the kings thought of God, for he was a good 
man, though he had done a wrong thing in joining this ex- 
pedition at all. Even boys and girls think of God when 
they are in any danger. But is it not a pity they do not more 
frequently ask God first to guide them. Then it would not 
so often be necessary to ask him afterwards to deliver. 

This applies especially to our young days when everything, 
like the springtime, looks bright and gay. Do you ever feel 
as if you did not want God then? But you will want him 
when the days grow dark and dull with trouble or with pain; 
and if you will want him then, you must “acquaint yourselves 
with him” in your strong and happy days. That is why 
Solomon says, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of 
thy youth, while the evil days come not; nor the years draw 
nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them.” 
Therefore let the Lord who “giveth us richly all things to 


ee 


ee ee ee eee 


HOW TO BECOME GREAT 211 


enjoy’ be your Friend and Guide even from your earliest 
days. 

But what about these three kings? If you will read the 
whole chapter you will find more about the incident I have 
referred to. Jehoshaphat, who was a good king (though he 
often made mistakes), asked in his difficulty: “Is there not 
here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of him?” 
And he received this reply, “Here is Elisha, the son of 
Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.’ Not, 
“Elisha who had seen his Master ascend up to heaven,” or 
who had done many wonderful works; but Elisha who had 
performed a very simple act at his master’s bidding. It was 
that humble service which made him great, and reminds us 
of how Jesus washed his disciples’ feet to teach them thus 
to serve one another. 

So the man who had not been too proud to pour out water 
for his master to wash with was used by God to supply water 
for kings and their great armies. Dear young people, there 
is no knowing what great service God may some day call you 
to do if he finds you have been faithful in little things; but 
until he has proved you with these, he cannot trust you with 
greater. “He that is faithful in that which is least is faith- 
ful also in much.” “‘His lord said unto him, ‘Well done, good 
and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, 
I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the 
joy of thy lord.’ ” 

By all means have your ambitions to do great things by 
and by; but to fit you for these, you must be faithful first in 
your daily duties, your lessons, in obedience at home and at 
school, in conquering your temper, envy, jealousy, and any 
other evil habits with which Satan tempts you. Then, if you 
are spared, you will, like Elisha, win the respect of those 
around you, be of great use in the world, and, above all, be 
well pleasing in the sight of God. 


212 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


82 
CHRIST, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD 


Rev. Cuarutes M. Suexipon, D.D. 
Text: “I am the light of the world.” John 8: 12. 


The minister may possibly interest the electrician in the 
town, or the electric company, as I have had the good fortune 
to do, who would furnish, perhaps for nothing, the text of 
the morning in electric lights, “I am the Light of the world,” 
which can be turned on at the proper time. Then the use of 
some professor of natural science or some one accustomed to 
the use of the lantern, is in order at this point and can be used 
in many parishes. The lantern will throw the spectrum on 
the wall to illustrate the beauty and variety of light in Christ, 
and by reason of recent discoveries the dark end can be illu- 
minated to illustrate the power and beauty of the unseen and 
invisible spirit life. There are many substances which will 
illustrate also the value of phosphorescent or reflected light, 
notedly the opal and pieces of labradorite. The value of the 
soul being lighted can be illustrated by the use of the candles 
of different colors to show how Christ in the life is the same, 
whether it be of one race or another. Also the way in which 
light is handed on from one life to another may be illustrated 
by lighting one little candle and then lighting other rows of 
candles. Emphasis is laid upon the fact that light is the 
cleanest of all known things. An illustration which the chil- 
dren will understand perfectly can be made by starting a few 
weeks beforehand by planting some seeds in the same kind 
of dish, letting one dish grow in the sunlight and covering 
the other up after a certain stage, showing what the children 
are familiar with, the sickly, pale growth of anything which 
has had to grow in the dark. A board placed over a piece of 
sod in two or three days will turn it yellow. 


A WONDERFUL GIFT OF GOD 213 


83 
A WONDERFUL GIFT OF GOD 
(Armistice Day) 
Rev. James A. BrimeLow 


On Armistice Day there took place one of the most won- 
derful things of which I have read for a long time. Our 
Nation brought from the fields of France the body of an 
Unknown Soldier, who was buried with all the honor and 
glory we possessed as a people and great men from nearly 
every country in the world gathered around his tomb with 
their garlands of love and devotion not only for his great 
sacrifice, but also for the sacrifices of all those who had died 
for the victory of right in the world. 

It was estimated that there were about one hundred thou- 
sand people gathered together in the National Cemetery in 
Arlington, where the Unknown Soldier was buried, and one 
of that great number was our late President, Mr. Harding, 
who made a speech which I hope some day you will read. But 
one of the remarkable things about that speech was this: it was 
heard as distinctly in the distant cities of New York and San 
Francisco as it was in the place where it was delivered. 

For days there had been certain workmen busy with an 
invention which was known as the telephone amplifier, which 
when completed was able to carry every sound that was made 
in that vast audience to those distant cities in our land. Thus, 
in so doing, uniting the three distinct groups of people in one 
great hour and in one great service. A most wonderful thing 
in every way. 

But I want to tell you of a still more wonderful thing which 
God has put within each of our lives, which can hear the 
faintest whisper of his Voice. For conscience is God’s great 
telephone amplifier in our own souls, which brings his voice 
down from heaven to our own distant world of earthly life. 


214 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


I like to read that story of the boy Samuel. One night 
he was awakened out of his sleep by the voice of God speak- 
ing. Samuel thought that it was his master, Eli, who was 
calling him. So he ran to his master’s room and said: “Here 
I am for thou didst call me.” But his master said: “TI called 
not, my son, go and lie down again.” He did, and three 
times the voice called, and then his master knew that it was 
God calling him and told him to say, if it called again: “Speak, 
Lord, for thy servant heareth.” And the voice came, and 
Samuel just listened and God opened out to him the wondrous 
words of his life. And God is seeking to speak unto us in 
the same way. Our little consciences carry his message unto 
us, and I think that one of the most wonderful days in our 
lives will be, when we come to know that if only we will listen 
God will make known unto us the wonderful words of his 
life, and the wondrous things of his wonderful world. 


THANKSGIVING 215 


84. 
THANKSGIVING 


Rev. WaLteR DEANE 


A mother found under her plate one morning at breakfast 
a bill made out by her small son, Bradley, aged eight. Mother 
owes Bradley: for running errands, 25 cents; for being good, 
Io cents; for taking music lessons, 15 cents; for extras, 5 
cents. Total, 55 cents. 

Mother smiled but made no comment. At lunch Bradley 
found the bill under his plate with 55 cents and another piece 
of paper neatly folded like the first. Opening it he read: 
Bradley owes Mother: for nursing him through scarlet fever, 
nothing; for being good to him, nothing; for clothes, shoes 
and playthings, nothing; for his playroom, nothing; for his 
meals, nothing. Total, nothing. 

This is the way I fear that we as children often treat our 
Heavenly Father. Like little Bradley, in taking everything 
we get for granted without considering what we owe to God 
for all the good things he has given tous. As this is Thanks- 
eiving Sunday, shall we not call to mind some of the blessings 
we enjoy? Shall we not stop to think of the wonderful body 
we call our own? Our limbs, our hands, our fingers, our 
very nails, what a loss we would suffer without any of them. 
We run around and throw our arms about and handle balls 
and bats and with our fingers write, draw, sew and feed our- 
selves. How wonderfully all these are fastened together with- 
out nails or thread, like dolly’s limbs. Then think of the 
sense of hearing. How sad it is when a child or even an old 
person is so deaf that he cannot hear. No song of bird, no 
music, no sound of human voice ever is heard. Then our 
sense of sight, how marvellous it is! No camera for taking 
pictures is more wonderfully made. We are taking moving 
pictures with our eyes every moment of the day. The films 


216 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


are back of our eyes all ready, and we do not have to go to 
the photographer’s to get them developed. Our sense of smell, 
too, is very necessary and helpful to us. Without it we are 
told we would scarcely be able to taste our food. Funny, 
isn’t it? If we could not smell the appetizing odors of our 
food we could not enjoy as we do what we eat nor tell by 
taste a turnip from an apple. Then our sense of smell warns 
us of dangerous gases and unsanitary conditions that would 
be dangerous to our health and life. And certainly our sense 
of taste is a great blessing to us. We all love to be able to 
taste the delicious vegetables and fruits God has bountifully 
provided. And our sense of touch is also of great value to 
us in our daily life. And what of our health and vigor and 
freedom from pain? As we eat and play, and study and 
sleep, we may scarcely realize what wonderful processes are 
going on in our muscles and nerve centres and blood vessels. 
And these are all working with little or no thought or atten- 
tion on our part, except that we sit down three or four times 
a day to good meals. And one more thought—our very life, 
our parents, our homes—what blessings! Shall we not then 
thank God this day for this whole wide world of beauty and 
light, fruit and flowers, of homes and loved ones? 





NINE MEN WHO FORGOT 217 


85 
NINE MEN WHO FORGOT 
(Thanksgiving ) 
Rev. Cuauvpe ALLEN McKay 


There were ten men. One man remembered; nine men 
forgot. I will tell you how it happened. 

The Master was coming one day with his disciples near to 
a village when they noticed ten men coming toward them 
and calling out that word of warning which everybody in the 
Eastern countries dreads to hear, “Unclean! Unclean!” 
You know what that meant. It meant those ten men were 
all lepers. And to be lepers meant they could not live in 
their homes with their families and visit with their friends, 
but they lived out by the roadside where they begged their 
bread. 

When Jesus saw these ten lepers his heart ached for them. 
Back of each man he saw a broken-hearted wife or mother 
and sorrowing friends. That man on the right had been a 
big, strong workman, a carpenter perhaps, but now the ends 
of his fingers are dropping off with this awful disease. Off 
yonder in the village in a little cottage is a sad, brave, little 
mother fighting hard to keep the wolf from the door. Oh, 
what it would mean to that home to have father back well and 
strong! 

The next leper is scarcely more than a boy. Perhaps he is 
sixteen. What dreams his father and mother had for him! 
But one day a tiny blue sore appeared on their boy’s arm and 
the priest said it was leprosy. The boy had to go away. 
There were no hospitals, as we have to-day, so he joined this 
miserable company. His father and mother have no one to 
support them in old age, so they are tottering to their graves 
in sorrow. 

The next man is old, with long grey hair and beard. He 


218 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


is somebody’s grandfather. How he would like to put on 
clean clothes and his soft slippers and sit by the fire through 
the long evenings while the children climbed over his knee 
and played. But he is a leper and dares not come near his 
loved ones. 

And so we might go on peering into the background of each 
one of the entire group. That must have been something 
like the picture Jesus saw. It was enough to move him to 
pity. He told them to go and report to the priest at the 
Jewish tabernacle. All those who had been shut out of their 
homes by disease had to go to the priest for what we would 
call “a health certificate” before they could go back to their 
homes to live. 

The ten men started, as Jésus told them, but joy of all joy! 
as they went they were healed. It was what the Master had 
intended. He knew it was the burning desire of every one 
of their aching hearts. 

One man, as soon as he saw he was healed of his leprosy, 
turned back to say “Thank you” to the Man who had healed 
him, and he was what we sometimes call a “foreigner.”” Then 
Jesus said something which I think came from a deep sense 
of disappointment. There were tears in his voice, I think. 
He said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the 
nine ?” 

Let us not throw stones at those nine men who forgot to 
be thankful enough to say so, until you and I look into our 
own hearts to see if we ever forgot that same thing. “Oh, if 
we had been cleansed of such a terrible disease, we would be 
very thankful, for it would mean our life happiness.” That 
is what we think, but I wonder? 

How much would you take for your two eyes? Did you 
ever think of them on Thanksgiving Day? If you were a 
cripple and could never run and play—but you are not. Are 
you thankful? Look at those rosy apples on the table. 
Where did they come from? Yes, from the farmer’s or- 
chard; but who made each one of those apples grow on a 
tiny twig, and flavored and colored it so perfectly? Do you 
say “Thank you” on Thanksgiving Day? 


NINE MEN WHO FORGOT 219 


There are too many folks in the world who are like those 
nine men who forgot. They make the heart of God sad. 
There aren’t enough people like the man who was so thank- 
ful that he took the trouble to say so. Which crowd shall 
we be in? 


220 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


86 
SIX JEWELS IN A CROWN 
(Thanksgiving) 
Rev. Grauam C. Hunter 


Text: “He crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.” 
Psalm 103: 4. 


A king’s son is called a prince and princes often own crowns 
which they wear on gredt occasions. In London, over the 
sea, in a big stone tower, there is a beautiful crown which 
belongs to the Prince of Wales. It is made of gold and has 
many beautiful stones in it. He never wears it, but leaves it 
in a glass case for people to look at. 

You may never have thought of it, but you are a King’s 
son and you have the right to wear a crown. You belong 
to your own father and mother, of course, but you also belong 
to the Heavenly Father and he is a king. An old song 
begins: 


“My father is rich in houses and lands; 

He holdeth the wealth of the world in his hands; 

Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold, 

His coffers are full; he has riches untold. 

I’m the child of a King, the child of a King. 
Through Jesus, my Saviour, I’m the child of a King.” 


Since you are the child of a king you have the right to 
wear a crown. : 
Let us play a game for Thanksgiving Day and pretend 
that you have a crown to wear. A crown is made of gold 
with jewels in it. Love is better than gold and we can pre- 
tend that the love of the Heavenly Father for you is the 
gold of your crown. Even when you are asleep the Heavenly 
Father is loving you all the time. When you get up in the 
morning and play or go to school, he is loving you, although 


SIX JEWELS IN A CROWN 221 


you cannot see him. The Bible gives us a Thanksgiving 
Day verse to remember, “He crowneth thee with lovingkind- 
ness and tender mercies.” That means that when the 
Heavenly Father loves you, it is like putting a crown on your 
head. 

A crown has precious stones in it and so has yours. ' One 
precious stone in your crown is an emerald. With its rich, 
dark green it is one of the most costly stones, and this year 
hundreds of emeralds are being sold at high prices. Emeralds 
are the color of the grass when the life came back to it last 
spring. The Heavenly Father has given you something more 
precious than an emerald, and that is your life. He has given 
you your body and your mind. He has sent you to earth, 
you may be sure, for a purpose, to obey him and do his will. 
Let us thank him for our bodies, that we are alive. 

The second stone is a pearl. The pearl is creamy, white 
and lovely. It stands for innocence. The Lord God when 
he made you, made you pure and innocent. When the Lord 
Jesus was here among men he took a little child in his arms, 
so pure and innocent, and said that he wanted every one on 
earth to be like that. That is the pearl of your crown. There 
are things that pry pearls out of crowns—bad temper, lies, 
bad words, cross thoughts. Keep your pearl clean and bright 
and shining. 

The third stone is a blue stone, a sapphire. The sapphire 
comes from the mines of Ceylon and it’s dark blue like the 
sky at night, sometimes flashes as if a star were shut up inside 
it. Blue makes one think of loyalty. We call a loyal person 
“true blue.’ You can think of the loyalty of the people of 
America as a beautiful blue sapphire in your crown. It is 
a wonderful thing to live in a loyal land where people obey 
‘the laws. I heard a man in Turkey tell how the government 
cheated the people and how everybody hated it. The Lord 
put you in this rich country for a purpose, to keep it free 
from ignorance and badness and to help all the world to be 
happy. , 

The fourth stone, the topaz, is yellow like the sunshine 
and stands for one’s friends. We can all be thankful for our 


222 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


friends. To have them is better than any topaz that ever was 
found in a mine. 

A ruby is the fifth. It flashes like a drop of blood with a 
sunbeam inside it and it suggests sacrifice. Some people like 
rubies best of all. When King Solomon wanted to say that 
wisdom was one of the best things in the world, he said, “It 
is more precious than rubies.” Since it is the color of blood, 
it makes us think of the sacrifices which the soldiers made in 
the war. They gave their lives—their bodies, that is—that 
the world might be free. Other people gave their time, others, 
at home, gave away great parts of their money to help the 
suffering people of other parts of the world. Sometimes 
people nowadays forget that much of the rest of the world 
is starving, cold and poor. If any one has forgotten, he had 
better be careful, or he will lose the ruby from his crown. 

The most precious gift of all is a clear conscience, and to 
have that is to possess a diamond. A good man who lived 
years ago was called John Newton. He said that he felt like 
a prince because God had given him a clear conscience. These 
were his words, “The Lord supplies all my wants, and I live 
under his protection. My enemies see his royal arms over 
the door, and do not enter.’ He meant that temptation no 
longer troubled him because he obeyed God. If we obey God 
we will keep our consciences clear. 

When a soldier has his uniform on he is likely to walk 
more erectly. Since you are a prince and own a crown, you 
must act like the son or the daughter of the Great King. 

(Objects to be shown are an emerald, a pearl, a sapphire, 
a topaz, a ruby and a diamond, which a jeweler may be will- 
ing to lend. Or, have a crown drawn on a blackboard and 
jewels put in with colored chalk as the talk progresses. ) 


HARVEST THOUGHTS 223 


87 
HARVEST THOUGHTS 


Rev. JAMES LEARMOUNT 


I wonder how many of you have read Tennyson’s beauti- 
ful poem, “Dora.” It tells a story about how old Farmer 
Allan had made up his mind that his son William should 
marry Dora; how he refused, and was turned out of the 
house, and afterwards married Mary Morrison. Then the 
old man forbade Dora to speak to William. Then a sweet 
little boy was born, but William, the boy’s father, died. 
Dora, who was a true, loving woman, at once ran off to 
Mary Morrison’s to give her all the comfort she could and to 
see the fatherless baby boy. Then Dora said: 


“You know there has not been for these five years 
So full a harvest; let me take the boy, 

And I will set him in my uncle’s eye 

Among the wheat; that when his heart is glad 

Of the full harvest, he may see the boy, 

And bless him for the sake of him that’s gone.” 


The first time the father saw not the boy, and Dora’s heart 
failed her, and 


“The reapers reaped, 
And the sun fell and all the land was dark.” 


Dora, however, took the child once more and sat him on 
the mound, and made him more conspicuous by twining a 
wreath of flowers round the boy’s hat. Then the farmer saw 
him and Dora, his heart melted, and he took the boy to his 
home, and sent Dora away from him. Mary says: 


“And, now I think, he shall not have the boy, 
For he will teach him hardness, and to slight 
His mother.” 


224 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


The two women kiss each other, and journeying to the 
farm find 


“The boy set up betwixt his grandsire’s knees, 
Who thrust him in the hollow of his arm.” 


The mother then pleads for her boy’s return, and Farmer 
Allan, being in his harvest mood, repents of all his rashness, 
and forgives all. 

And Tennyson finds the secret of the happy ending in the 
pleasant, thankful frame of mind produced in the farmer by 
the fat harvest. 

Now another harvest is being gathered in, and the thought 
of this story of Tennyson has come to me. Arnd surely it is 
right that God’s mercies should make us thankful and tender 
and forgiving. The more I think about the world and its 
ever new mercies, the more love I feel towards God who gives 
them all: 


“Long ago the lilies faded, 
Which to Jesus seemed so fair, 
But the love that bade them blossom 
Still is working everywhere.” 


Through the busy thoroughfares of a large city a gentle- 
man threaded his homeward way. It was quite dusk, and he, 
buried in thought, never noticed that a little figure hurried 
after and caught him up, until he felt a soft hand steal into 
his, and, looking down, saw the bright face of a child he 
knew. 

“Good evening, sir,’ 
five-year-old Jeanie. 

“Why, child!” he exclaimed, surprised to see her in the 
streets so late in the evening, and alone, “how came you here 
by yourself? Is not your father with you?” 

“No,” she answered. 

“But are you not afraid, my dear?” 

“Afraid! No. Don’t you know that God is everywhere ?” 
‘was her quick reply. 

How that child’s answer comes to us at this time. Surely, 


, 


said a sweet little voice, belonging to 





HARVEST THOUGHTS 225 


God is everywhere. We have felt that amid all the summer 
_ sunshine and beauty; we have seen him in the beauty of the 
fields that have waved with golden corn, and the trees that 


have been laden with fruit. God has been working all around. 

Perhaps you do not feel so sure about that as I do. Per- 
haps you have got no further than the thought of the farmer 
who prepared the earth and sowed the seed. If so, look at 
it this way: It is very easy for a chemist to tell what a seed 
is made of. Indeed, he could make a seed, and put into it 
exactly what there is in the seed of nature, but would it grow 
if it were put into the ground? Never! There is something 
in nature’s seed that man cannot put in. There is life; and 
no one but God can produce life. If you think back far 
enough about anything, you always come out to the Creator 
of all—God. 

I have read that when the missionaries first introduced 
wheat into New Zealand, telling the Maories that bread was 
made from it, the natives were glad in their hearts. They 
waited, full of expectancy, until the corn was grown up tall 
and ripe; then they dug up the stalks, expecting to find crusted 
loaves growing at the roots like so many potatoes. Their 
disappointment was great when they found nothing there but 
little hair-like fibers, and they turned angrily upon the mis- 
sionaries and charged them with deception. 

A great many others, who are not heathen, are just as dis- 
satished with God’s bounty. But God knows best, and the 
work by which we get our bread, all sensible people know to 
be one of God’s greatest blessings to the race. Let us do 
our duty and look for blessings still. “Every good and per- 
fect gift cometh from above.” 


226 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


88 
HAVING THE HEART RIGHT WITH GOD 


Rev. CuHarutes M. SuHextpon, D.D. 


Text: “My son, give me thine heart.” Proverbs 23: 26. 


Emphasis laid oma few words: First, give God the heart 
now. Illustrate, by means of several things which cannot 
be done at all unless they are done now. For example, two 
hearts cut out of white paper, one of them marked with the 
word Sin in ink the week before, and the other marked dur- 
ing the sermon with the same lettering in ink. Then imme- 
diately remove the last lettering with an ink eradicator, which 
can be bought in any stationery store, which will act almost 
instantly. Then try to do the same with the heart which has 
been marked the week before, and emphasize the difficulty of 
removing an old stain. The heart should be given to God 
not only now but the whole of it should be given. Nothing 
kept back. This can be illustrated by tearing a dollar bill in 
two and even in its torn condition it is good if pasted together 
and handed in to the bank, where they will give a new one 
for it, but it is not worth anything if you take half of it to 
the bank. So God wants the whole heart or none. The 
heart should be the best heart we can possibly give to God, 
which can be illustrated by a variety of ways. For instance, 
we have in Kansas a woman who has discovered a process for 
imitating fruit, exactly reproducing in a physical form the 
color, shape, and characteristics of any kind of an apple or 
peach, and she has made such an exhibit, comparing the per- 
fect Alberta peach, for example, with the same kind of fruit 
which has begun to show disease, rot, scab. Often we try to — 
give God the cheapest or the worst. Reference can also be 
made to the old Hebrew law which demanded of the Jew the 
best of the flock for sacrifice to Jehovah. Also the heart 
should be kept full all the time of the grace of God. This 


HAVING THE HEART RIGHT WITH GOD 227 


can be illustrated by putting a cup of water, which has been 
colored, into a plate. Light a candle and put it in the middle 
of this water on the plate. After the candle is burning well, 
cover with a long-necked glass, a very large test tube is the 
best. The air will be exhausted by the flame and the equi- 
librium destroyed so that the pressure of the colored water 
outside, which represents the pressure of the world, will enter 
into the vacuum caused by the burning of the candle and the 
water will rise in the tube, showing that when the heart is 
empty of the grace of God the world will enter in. Lastly, 
some young man who is an artist in the Endeavor Society 
can be drafted to draw on two hearts which are alike, first 
the face of a child representing innocence, and the days of 
youth, and on the other a broken-down, wretched old man, 
and the appeal made as to which of these two should be given 


to God. 


228 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


89 
THE BOY WHO WASN’T A COWARD 


Rev. ALFRED BarratTr 


Text: “My Son, when sinners entice thee consent thou not.” Prov- 
erbs 1:10. 


A’ foolish young man once vainly expressed himself in 
these words, “What a wonderful thing life would be if there 
were no temptations! As it is,’ he said, “each day brings 
with it so many temptations to evil that I am in hot water 
every hour. Oh, for one day of freedom.” 

A longing to be free from temptation is cowardly. All 
boys and girls are tempted. Temptation comes to test our 
strength, our faith, our love and our loyalty to Jesus Christ. 
But when we are tempted God knows all about our tempta- 
tions, and he also knows just how hard it is for a boy or girl 
to face these temptations because “Jesus was tempted in all 
points like as we are, yet without sin.” But as Jesus did not 
yield to temptation and thus won the victory over sin and 
Satan, “He is able to succor all that are tempted.” So here 
is a word of comfort and cheer; that no boy or girl is ex- 
pected to fight temptation single handed, for he who has never 
been defeated is ever ready and willing to help us to win the 
victory. Satan knows this and it always makes his knees 
weak when he meets a boy or girl who says with confidence 
and courage, “I am not alone, for Jesus is with me.” 

Perhaps you have read in the Old Testament how Satan 
tried to tempt Job, and when he discovered that Job had the 
presence of God with him he said to God, “Hast thou not 
made a hedge about him on every side?’ Satan declared the 
truth, and with a disheartened spirit he turned away from 
dear old Job. ! 

Listen to this thrilling story about a boy who was tempted 
and because he would not yield to temptation his companions 


THE BOY WHO WASN’T A COWARD 229 


called him a coward. It was a very warm afternoon in the 
month of August. Not a breeze was stirring, and the birds 
were too lazy to sing. It was dark, dull, and gloomy, and it 
looked as if it would turn to rain at any moment. Every- 
body seemed as though they just wanted to imitate the birds 
and keep quiet. But Fred Hatborn and his two companions, 
Dick and Will Haines, thought it was just a dandy time to 
go fishing. So all three boys went fishing. It was remark- 
able that they were able to catch so many trout and perch 
because it was not long before each boy had a good long string 
of fish, and Dick declared it was time to quit. “Let’s go 
swimming,” he suggested, “that will cool us off after our 
long walk.” “All right,’ responded Will, but Fred to their 
astonishment, said he “couldn’t do it.” “Can’t do it?” “Why 
not? A're you sick?” “What's the matter, old fellow? You 
never refused before?’ “I know it,” he replied, “but mother 
has been telling me of some boys who were drowned lately, 
and she made me promise not to go in swimming any more 
without her permission.” “Stuff and nonsense,” said Dick, 
“just as though it were any more dangerous now than it ever 
was! Women do have such silly notions these days, don’t 
they, Will?” questioned Dick. “Indeed they have!’ he re- 
plied. “T’d like to see myself tied to my mother’s apron 
strings! She knows better than to make me promise things 
that I can’t do. Why, a boy can’t help swimming in hot 
weather. It’s just as natural for him as it is for the fish 
themselves. Come on, Fred, I'll help you off with your coat.” 
Will meant just what he said, and because he was larger and 
stronger than Fred he had the boy’s jacket off in a “jiffy.” 
“Now, no more of that!” exclaimed Fred, drawing himself 
up with courage and dignity. “You and Dick may swim as 
long as you please and I will wait for you, but I mean to 
keep my promise to my mother.” When Will and Dick saw 
the set determination on Fred’s face they knew they could 
not make him change his mind, so they called him a coward’ 
and told him with sarcasm they were mighty glad that they 
were made of better stuff. 

What foolish boys they were to imagine that they were 


230 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


manly when they were tempting another boy to do wrong? 
They must have forgotten that a boy shows himself to be 
noble and manly when he is brave enough to stand for the 
right, and to obey his mother. 

Fred was contented to lie on the bank and was amused to 
see the grasshoppers jumping around about him. In a little 
while he heard a scream, a cry for help. Something had 
happened. Dick had taken suddenly ill, and had flung his 
arms around Will’s neck to save himself. Will was a selfish 
boy and tried to loosen himself from his brother’s grasp. He 
was afraid, he afterwards said, that if he had tried to help 
Dick he might be drowned too. Fred knew that something 
was wrong, and, springing to his feet, made one leap into 
the water, and in an instant was boldly making his way to 
his sinking companion. He was just in time. Dick was 
saved. Now, then, which of the two boys proved to be the 
coward, Will or Fred? 

No boy is a coward when he obeys his mother. Other boys 
may laugh at you, and ridicule you when you take your stand 
for right, but a really manly boy can stand ridicule just as 
a soldier stands fire. Let every boy who hears this story 
learn the lesson that no boy can ever become a manly man if 
he disobeys his mother. Take the advice of the wise man: 
“My son, when sinners entice thee, consent thou not.” If 
you heed this counsel you will surely make a big success in 
life. Remember it is always the best policy to obey your 
mother every time and all the time. Will you do this? 


CAPTURING THREE ROBBERS 231 


90 
CAPTURING THREE ROBBERS 
Rev. Cuavpe ALttEN McKay 


Tommy Jones was not afraid of anything, he said, and 
so it is no wonder he found these three robbers and captured 
them. The first one he found hiding inside the door of his 
own heart. The robber had a very foreign name, although 
he acted as if he felt perfectly at home there in Tommy 
Jones’s heart. His name you will want to know. It was 
Sel Fish Ness, and Tommy found that this little thief had 
been robbing him of bushels of happiness and scores of friends 
by making Tommy think all the time of what other people 
could do for him instead of thinking what he could do to help 
make other people happy. When Tommy found out what 
this little thief had been doing, he captured him and tried to 
put him out of his heart. But that was a hard thing to do. 
When he thought he had this little thief put out to stay, he 
found he had crept back in. If you think that isn’t a hard 
battle, you just try it and see. 

The second robber that Tommy Jones captured, he found 
hiding in another corner of his heart. He also had a very 
foreign name, although this thief claims citizenship under 
every flag in the world. His name is Dis O’Bey. Tommy 
found that this little thief had been robbing him of great 
quantities of peace. And when this intruder got into 
Tommy’s conscience he felt just like a cinder did when it got 
into his eye. So out the door he went. 

He was not so hard to put out, but oh! he was hard to 
keep out because he changed his coat and appeared as a friend. 
He would whisper to Tommy, “Why don’t you do as you 
please and pay no attention to what your mother says?” 
Tommy opened the door a wee bit and back he came. Then 
Tommy’s conscience felt like his stomach did when he ate 


232 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


the green apples his mother told him not to eat, so Tommy 
took that thief, Dis O’Bey, and threw him out and told him 
to stay out. 

The third robber was a sly little Miss with a very American 
name, although I am told she lives in the Old World too. 
She was just plain Miss Treat. But Tommy found that when 
she got control of his temper he brought tears to his mother’s 
eyes, and made his playmates very unhappy, and made Spot, 
his dog, wish he had a new master. And sometimes Miss 
Treat persuaded Tommy to eat too much candy or too much 
cake and then his stomach wished he would be more careful 
what he sent down for boy-building material. And so that 
wicked little Miss robbed Tommy of joy, of friends, of love 
and of sleep. 

But Tommy captured her and put her out and locked the 
door, but when he looked in her place, what do you think 
he saw? A’ fine jolly fellow had come to take the place of 
the three robbers. When Tommy asked him his name, he 
said, “I am Master Happ I Ness,’ and then he added with 
great glee, “And, Tommy, I have come to stay.” 





THE MOST WONDERFUL MECHANISM 233 


91 
THE MOST WONDERFUL MECHANISM 
(Object Sermon) 
Rev. H. E. WaLHEy 


Objects: A clock face (something that has hands but no 
works), an alarm clock, an Ingersoll watch, a medium-sized 
gold watch, a small gold watch, a large screw and a thimble. 
Put these on a small table so that the audience can see them. 
Begin by referring to the clock face. 

This is not a real clock. It only looks like one. (Turn 
it around so that every one can see the back.) I read of a 
German who had a clock that wouldn’t run. The hands got 
twisted. The poor foolish man took the hands to a clock 
mender to have them fixed. ‘Go home and get the clock,” 
said the man, “the trouble is in the works, not in the hands.” 
Please remember the words of the clockmaker. 

Have you ever thought much about the inside of a watch? 
(Pick up the alarm clock.) There is nothing very wonderful 
or intricate about this homely time-piece. It didn’t take ex- 
ceptional skill to make it and it didn’t cost very much. But 
even so, I doubt if any one of you can make one like it. It 
was not made in a boiler works, or in a great factory where 
only ponderous machines are made, but in a factory by skilled 
mechanics with special tools and appliances. 

This Ingersoll (hold it up) cost one-fifty when it was 
bought, and truth to say it kept good time for a long time. 
Just now it is much worn and virtually no good. For, re- 
member, when a watch does not keep step with the sun it 
is good for nothing. When it pushes ahead of the sun or 
lags behind, it must either be corrected or thrown away. Ii 
one of these things is not done it will get you into trouble as 
sure as you are born. 


234 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


Tam amazed when I look into the finer type of watch (here 
show gold watch), and am quite speechless when I think of 
this tiny one (show lady’s small watch). An experienced 
watch man tells us there are 211 parts in the ordinary watch. 
There are tiny jewels, that must be magnified to be seen, 
and screws not like this (show large wood screw), but so 
small that if you were to put a number of them on a piece 
of white paper they would look like grains of pepper. You 
can put 20,000 of them in a thimble (show thimble). Tiny 
as they are, each screw has a perfect spiral around it and a 
slot on the top. 

The mainspring is well named, for it is the heart of the 
watch. It is made of the finest possible steel and with the 
utmost care. When uncoiled it is about 23 inches long. When 
it breaks, as it sometimes does, the watch stops. The driv- 
ing power is gone and the wheels do not move. The hair- 
spring is the head of the watch. It keeps the wheels in tune. 
It is so thin and delicate that when a pound of steel is made 
into hair-spring wire it is eight miles long. As steel it costs 
$6; when hair-spring wire it costs $65,000. Is it surprising 
that some one has referred to the watch as “That wonder-box 
in your pocket’’? 

Of course you must not let it fall upon the pavement, nor 
expose the wheels to the dust-laden air, nor breathe into it, 
nor get into a magnetic field while wearing it, nor take it in 
bathing with you, and other things too numerous to men- 
tion, if you want it to keep time for you. 

Now as you have seen, the watch is indeed a wonder-box, 
but I know of another which is really matchless in form and 
organization. Hear what the Psalmist said (139:14): “For 
I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Just so. The hu- 
man body is wonderfully put together. The eye, for instance. 
There is nothing to equal or excel it in delicacy of parts or 
beauty of operation. Talk of wonder-boxes, here is a real 
one for you. The skillful surgeon can remove a sightless eye 
and put one in its place so like the real one that it seems real, 
but he can’t make sight. Yes, a man may make a watch, or 
an eye, but only God can make a man or a tree or a flower— 


—e se, lr eee eC 


THE MOST WONDERFUL MECHANISM 235 


or sight. Nothing that man has devised is comparable with 
the lowest order of life that God has made. 

If the watch must not be abused because of its fine and 
delicate nature, how much more should the most wonderful 
mechanism in the world be guarded and revered. The watch 
is lacking in recreative and recuperative power. The body 
recovers in large measure from excessive strain wickedly or 
thoughtlessly imposed upon it by its owner, but there comes 
a time when it refuses to make good the wanton waste and 
abuse of its owner. 

The creator of the body wants to be a guest in it. It must 
be kept clean and pure. If the body is foul and its beauty 
marred by sin, the master builder will not come into it. The 
body is spoken of as the Temple of the Holy Ghost; there- 
fore, let no evil thing come into it. 

Perhaps you have seen lives that are out of tune and out 
of time with their Creator and their fellow men. Their hearts 
incline to do evil continually. Everything in and about them 
is in disorder and ruin. I am sure the human ‘“‘wonder-box” 
is God’s finest handiwork. One writer calls the body, “The 
epitome of all mechanics, of all hydraulics, of all machinery. 
It has all the bars, levers, pulleys, wheels, axles and buffers 
known to science.” Yes, there is no question about it. “I 
am fearfully and wonderfully made, and that my heart 
knoweth right well.” 


236 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


92 


THE IMPORTANCE OF LITTLE THINGS 
IN THE BUILDING OF LIFE 


Rev. Cuarites M. SHextpon, D.D. 
TEXTss Grow in grace. “2 Peters: 13: 


A large variety of chemicals will show the importance of 
little things. or instance, poison like cyanide of potassium. 
A’ piece as large as a head of a pin will killa man. A little 
pinch of methyl violet, so small that the children cannot see 
it, dropped into a tumbler of water will discolor it imme- 
diately. The same thing can be done with a little grain of 
permanganate of potassium. From one of the companies 
manufacturing pens, a card showing the way in which pens 
are made illustrates the sixteen different processes through 
which pens have to go before they are finished. Each process 
must be followed or the pen is not perfect. The lead casing 
which surrounds the telephone wires in the cities will illus- 
trate the value of little things, for if through an accident this 
lead casing is punctured in any way and one drop of water 
enters the bunch of wires, it will put them out of service and 
cause the telephone company great trouble and expense. An- 
other illustration of the importance of little things is a col- 
lection of photographs from Mr. Burbank’s experimental farm 
showing how selections are made by noticing the minute 
difference between fruits or leaves of plants, and a seedless 
apple, showing the patience required in little things in select- 
ing the fruit or trees which have finally produced the fruit 
covering a period of several years. Upon the blackboard can 
be drawn the timbers which must go into the house of life 
mentioned in Peter—Faith, Virtue, Knowledge, Self-Control, 
Patience, Godliness, Brotherly Kindness, Love. Each one of 
these timbers is made up of minute fibers, yet put together 
they make strength. We cannot grow in grace without pay- 
ing great attention to the little things that make growth. 


GOD’S PARCEL POST 237 


93 
GOD’S PARCEL POST 


Rev. CuaupeE ALLEN McKay 


A long time before Uncle Sam thought of establishing his 
nation-wide Parcel Post system, somebody else had estab- 
lished a world-wide Parcel Post system for sending seeds. 
Wise men tell us now that if it hadn’t been for this wonder- 
ful world-wide Parcel Post system, many of our most valu- 
able trees and flowers and fruits would have perished and 
ceased to live on earth. 7 

Two of the most interesting things in God’s Parcel Post 
system are the postmen and postage stamps. I need not tell 
you that the most familiar postman in his system is the Wind. 
But sometimes we find a dog serving as a postman, and some- 
times it is a horse or a cow. Once in a while a man becomes 
a postman on God’s Parcel Post routes and very, very often 
a bird carries the seed packages and delivers them. 

But what of the postage stamps? Look at the seed pods 
that drop from the maple tree. Each package has a wing, 
spread out like a fan, on one side. You know a postman 
will not carry a package unless it has a stamp on it. That 
is the reason we call the wing on the maple seed a postage 
stamp. Mr. Wind, the postman, would not carry and de- 
liver it where it is needed without that wing postage stamp 
affixed to it. 

And what we have just said about the wing postage on 
the maple seed is true also of many others. The beautiful 
brown “cat-tails’” you see growing in the swamp are really 
clusters of seed packages getting ready to be sent out om Mr. 
Wind’s route. Each one of them is equipped with a tiny 
umbrella which serves as its postage stamp. Without it Mr. 
Wind would not carry the seed and deliver it postpaid. The 
milk-weed has the same kind of a stamp which assures its 


238 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


delivery. Why don’t you watch one some day and look at 
it closely? 

If you want to know when the dog and the horse and the 
cow become postmen, look at the long switch of their tails 
when they come from the pasture. There you will find seeds 
of different kinds wrapped up in a burr that catches in the 
tail to be carried to some new place to grow. 

If you want to know when people and birds become post- 
men in God’s Parcel Post system, think of the cherries and 
mulberries and blackberries, which both man and the birds 
carry and deliver in a new soil. In the case of fruits and 
nuts, the postmen are paid well for delivering the seed. The 
blue jay carries a cherry farther than it could ever get by 
itself. Sometimes he carries the cherry a half mile or more. 
Then he stops on a fence post and collects the postage, which 
is the ripe, red fruit, and drops the seed just where a new 
cherry tree can best grow. If it is a blackberry or a mul- 
berry, it is just the same. Squirrels like to be God’s postmen 
when they can carry acorns and nuts. 

We have a great many things to thank our Heavenly Father 
for, but let us not fail to mention the Parcel Post system he 
has provided, with its many postmen and queer and wonder- 
ful postage. 


THE LITTLE BIRD 239 


94 
THE LITTLE BIRD 


Rey. James A. BrimeELow 


The other morning after it had been raining heavily I 
went out to the post office. I was feeling just like the 
weather, miserable and gloomy. Rainy days have a way with 
them of making people feel that way. There are some people 
who say that rainy days are testing days and they reveal the 
brightness, or the gloominess of these little hearts of ours. 
And that morning my heart was just a little gloomy, for I 
was wondering when the sun would shine and when I could 
live out-of-doors. But as I was going along the road I was 
suddenly startled by hearing the voice of a little bird sitting 
upon a telephone pole, just singing for all it was worth. I 
looked at it, and for a minute listened to its glad song of 
rejoicing, and then made my way to the post office. But the 
voice of that little bird thrilled my heart with a new note. 
It made me forget the rain and the cold and think of the 
‘sun and beauty. It taught me the lesson of watching for 
the bright and pleasant things and not living upon the dark 
and dismal things. Dark and dismal days come. Life can- 
not be all sunshine. But if we see the sun behind the clouds, 
if we can at the very first moment utter our song of rejoicing, 
how different the world would soon become! For what is 
keeping the world out of its rich things is the spirit of silent 
grumbling; always remembering the things which are not 
pleasant and not the things which are beautiful. 

So, children, let us not be like weather people. If the sun 
shines, our friends are kind and true, if we are continually 
receiving nice and good things from those who love us, then 
we are happy. We sing and play, we work and sleep, feel- 
ing that the world is just made for us. But when the rain 
comes and the air begins to feel cold, and we are all alone, 


240 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


then we become sad and gloomy and we have no song of 
rejoicing for the world in which we live. 

But God wants us to have a song for every hour of life. 
A song for the day of rain as well as the day of sun. For 
every day and everything which comes in the day has its 
little message if we only knew. Let us all try to be dis- 
coverers of the bright and beautiful things, the sun is still 
in God’s heaven, and no matter how dark and stormy the 
days may be, there will come the hour when it will come 
back and gladden the heart of the world in which we live. 
God lives always in the bright things of life and he wants us 
to live as he lives. Avnd it was the little bird on the telephone 
pole which taught me that lesson after that rainy morning. 





: 
: 
,. 


CONCENTRATION 241 


95 
CONCENTRATION 


(Object Sermon) 


Rev. Lesuize E. DunKIN 


Equipment. A strong magnifying glass, a piece of paper 
and strong sunshine. 

Preparations. Have some boy to bring the magnifying 
glass and a girl to bring the piece of paper. The leader will 
have to depend upon the weather for the sunshine. 

Assistant. A’ girl to hold the paper. 

Presentation. (The leader speaking.) I am going to ask 
Louise to come up here and hold this paper for me, while 
I hold the magnifying glass. All the rest of you watch that 
piece of paper. See that smoke rising from the paper. Now 
watch the smoke carefully. What is it doing now? Yes, there 
is a little fame there now. There, the whole paper is burning. 

Will one of you explain how I was able to do that. Yes, 
the magnifying glass did it. All of the rays of the sun are 
scattered over many millions of miles. We only get a very 
few of them here. What this magnifying glass did was to 
take a number of the sun’s rays and concentrate all of them on 
the one spot on the paper. It was so hot that it set the paper 
on fire. 

Did you ever see a large group of boys and girls, where 
each one was trying to do something different from all the 
rest? Then all of a sudden, all the boys and girls concen- 
trated themselves or centered all their energies upon one thing. 
Didn’t that one thing become accomplished in a hurry? That 
was just like this magnifying glass with the rays of the sun. 
It did something when all those few rays were centered on 
the one spot. 

Did you ever know a boy or girl who was always trying 


242 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


to do a little of everything imaginable? They never got very 
much done. Then there was another boy or girl who centered 
all his or her interests and strength upon the one task and it 
was accomplished in a hurry. The one used a magnifying 
glass on his task while the other did not. 

God is all-powerful. Since he is all-powerful, have you 
ever wondered why it is necessary for us to pray to him for 
certain things? If he already knows about it, what is the 
use of our asking him in prayer? God is like the sun. His 
strength, his power, goes everywhere. It is within easy reach 
of each one of us here this morning. Before we can make 
use of it, though, we must go to him in prayer and by the use 
of our magnifying glass center several rays of his power and 
strength on the one thing that we desire. Prayer is the mag- 
nifying glass that centers his strength upon the one thing we 
desire. If we do not pray, his rays will have no effect upon 
our paper or our lives. Boys and girls, never forget to pray, 
for that is your glass with which you can make use of God’s 
power. 


GOOD COURAGE 243 


96 
GOOD COURAGE 


Rev. ALFRED BARRATT 


Text: “Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart.” 
Psalm 27: 14. 


There are many times when boys and girls lack good cour- 
age; they falter and fail in the things they attempt, they falter 
and lose heart, that means to say the attempt to do things 
half-heartedly. Nothing can be done successfully in a half- 
hearted fashion. To be whole-hearted in the things we do 
implies that we must have concentration as well as consecra- 
tion—devotion as well as emotion—chivalry as well as con- 
fidence—courage as well as strength. The battle against sin 
and Satan demands courage. It is not an easy thing for 
boys and girls to turn away from the allurements of sin. 
One of the very hardest things that you have to face and 
endure in life is the ridicule of your friends and companions 
when you leave them because your conscience tells you what 
they are doing is wrong. It is hard but it is pleasant. If 
Jesus is in your heart, you can depend upon it that he will 
be on your side, and whatever happens he will give you 
strength and courage to win the victory. Do you remember 
the old Norse king’s advice, “If your sword is not long enough 
go in closer.’ But going in closer means keeping cool and 
having good courage. Success in life depends largely upon 
how you train yourselves in youth. If you strive to have 
confidence, self-reliance, determination and courage, you will 
surely win many a victory. When you have built for your- 
_ self a fine, strong, beautiful, noble character—believe in your- 
self—stand upon your own resources—and in the strength of 
God and your own experience do something noble for God 
and your fellow companions. 

There is a good story told by a war correspondent about 


244 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


the courage and bravery of a Japanese soldier about the time 
when the Christians were besieged in Pekin. When the re- 
enforcements sent to relieve the Christians had arrived, it fell 
to the lot of a Japanese regiment to blow up a certain gate. 
The artillery had done a lot of damage, but the breach was 
not sufficient to cause a charge upon the enemy. These strong, 
heavy wooden gates are sunk in the thick twelve-foot walls 
and are approached by means of a little foot-bridge across 
the moat that encircles the city. The Japanese general de- 
cided that a breach must be effected, but this could only be 
done by the dangerous means of dynamite. For this dan- 
gerous attack he called for volunteers. He wanted a man 
of courage to accomplish his purpose. A little corporal about 
four feet six inches in height was chosen for this mission. 
He was to blow the big gates to pieces. With coolness and 
courage he marched briskly, unconcerned over the bridge 
while the enemy shot at him from the top of the wall until 
he was out of sight in the recess occupied in the gate. There 
he worked fearlessly and courageously, planting the dynamite 
and attaching the fuse to the explosive. When everything 
was ready he lit the fuse and quickly made his way back to 
his own lines without receiving a single injury. No sooner 
had he got out of the way than a Chinaman opened a little 
door cautiously and rushed out to the lighted fuse and ex- 
tinguished it with his feet. Then he went back and closed 
the door. Taking his own life in his hands, and defying de- 
feat and death, the brave corporal set out again, and once 
more lighted the fuse. On his way back he was shot in the 
shoulder, and stumbled to the ground. He rose up with the 
blood running from the wound, and staggered his way to 
safety. Once more, however, the daring Chinaman was too 
quick for the slow fuse, and he stamped it out again. Then 
the brave corporal, in spite of his wounded condition, deter- 
mined not to be defeated, made his way back to the half 
demolished gate, lighted the fuse, and, with his bayonet sword, 
stood by the little door and waited for the Chinaman. There 
was a moment of breathless suspense, and then with an awful 
roar the old wooden gate was blown to pieces, and with it 


GOOD COURAGE Q45 


went the brave little corporal. Every boy and girl admires 
the courage of this brave soldier, and you may have the same 
courage. Put your trust in Jesus, be faithful in all things, 
seek the help of God—pray for strength in the trying hour. 
It is courage that counts in these days, and it will also count 
in the life to come. “Be of good courage and he will 
strengthen your heart.” 


246 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


97 
HABIT 
Rev. Bernarp J. Snewy, M.A. 


Most of you children have seen a phonograph—a wonder- 
ful instrument into which some one speaks, and then it gives 
back the same words with the same accent, as many times as 
the wheel is turned. But within each one of us, in the brain, 
there is a more wonderful recorder than the phonograph. 
A recording angel lives in the brain; its name is “Memory”; 
it holds everything, and there is no such thing as forgetting. 

In a hotel one day a boy who had (as ill-luck would have 
it) a diamond pin, was scratching on the window. A man 
said to him, “Boy! stop that.” “Why?” “Because you can’t 
rub it out.” That is what happens inside in the brain. Noth- 
ing 1s rubbed out nor can be. 

You know how your little baby at home imitates you in 
the signs you make and in the things you do, But do you 
know that you imitate yourself? We all are always doing 
that—imitating ourselves, until at last we find that we are in 
a groove and cannot get out of it. That is the way in which 
habits grow. An old favorite of mine, and indeed of most 
of us, as we go on through life—Dr. Johnson—said, “The 
chains of habit are generally too small to be felt, until they 
have grown too strong to be broken.” 

Did you notice, when you were at the Zoological Gardens, 
the colors of some of the animals? The leopard was spotted; 
the lion tawny; the tiger striped; do you know why? The 
leopard, for I do not know how many scores and scores of 
generations has lived in the forest. Its coat is spotted like 
the leaves and shadows of the leaves; so that when a hunter 
passes by he may scarcely see the leopard. And the lion’s 
skin is tawny because the lions have lived in the sandy desert; 
and the tiger’s skin is striped like the great grass of the 


HABIT 24:7 


jungle. So that in their dwelling places, these animals, un- 
consciously, of course, have imitated what was outside of 
them. Indeed, if they had not done so, they would not have 
been able to live through to this day, as they have done through 
their powers of concealment. Much in the same way we al- 
most as unconsciously imitate what is going on outside. It 
is not our coats that acquire marks, but our very selves, and 
there is no rubbing out. 

You know that a lady gets into a riding habit when she is 
going to ride; it is very easy for her to throw off that habit. 
But it is not easy to throw off the habits of which I now 
speak—these habits are parts of ourselves, and we cannot take 
them off. They grow in us. 

Now, you children are sent to school to learn good habits. 
We grown-up people are bundles of habits and little else, and 
you will be the same by and by. Those who love and serve 
God best become bundles of good habits. ‘Sometimes at 
school it is terribly dull, keeping on and keeping on! Ah! 
you have probably heard of the railway engine which grew 
sulky and discontented with its lot; how it said to itself, 
“Here am I day after day running along these straight, level 
lines, and there is not a horse in all the kingdom that is not 
free to scamper over the fields and meadows!” And that 
engine became quite unmanageable, until one day it bounded 
clean off the line, and what happened! Well, it ploughed 
up the ground for a few yards and then stopped altogether, 
a wreck. And you and I, as we go through life, unless we 
are careful to go along the line which God meant us to travel, 
shall work mischief for ourselves and for those around us. 
Whether we like it or not, we are creatures of habit; and 
however hard your duties, the most difficult things become 
simple if you keep on, on! 

I have heard, but I do not know whether it is true, that 
one of our bishops was one day on a railway platiorm, and 
a young man, wishing to take a rise out of him, said to the 
bishop, “Before the train comes, in two minutes, can you 
tell me the simplest way to heaven?’ And the bishop said, 
“Nothing is simpler; take the first turning to the right and 


248 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


keep straight on.” There is nothing easier in the world if 
you keep straight on. Now remember that all bad habits 
are related to one another, and if you take one of the family 
in, you do not know how many you have to lodge. What 
do I mean? Here is the simplest example I can think of. 
Suppose you are lazy. To-morrow you will not be punctual 
at your post of duty, wherever it may be, and then you will 
have to apologize and make excuses and perhaps “draw the 
long bow,’ and perhaps, perhaps, to lie. One fault leads 
to another. That I suppose to be the reason why wise Plato 
had written up over his school door, ‘‘Let no one enter here 
who is ignorant of geometry.” He thought that without 
accuracy there would be no chance of any of the virtues which 
he tried to implant. : 

Good habits are the court dress of heaven. We have been 
reading in the papers lately about the lovely dresses worn 
before the queen. When we stand before God, we have to 
wear a court dress. What is it? Why, a robe of righteous- 
ness. What is that? Habits of goodness. Virtue is just the 
habit of doing good; and into that habit Jesus helps us to 
grow. 


PUTTING SHOES ON A GOOSE 249 


98 
PUTTING SHOES ON A GOOSE 
Rev. CuaupE ALLEN McKay 


I wonder if you ever saw a goose with shoes on? That’s 
a sight you could have enjoyed if you had been living in a 
village in Illinois one summer evening when Mr. Flick drove 
a flock of geese from his farm into town. Each goose wore 
two pairs of shoes; a pair of water shoes which God had 
provided and a pair of road shoes which the farmer provided. 
There is a story which goes with each pair of shoes. Let me 
tell you the stories. 

When Mr. Flick’s big flock of geese was ready for market, 
he knew that if he drove them over the hard road of sharp 
stones and gravel, they would go limping into town with 
sore and bleeding feet. So he first put the geese into a pen 
where he had spread some melted tar and then he turned 
them into a pen where the ground was covered with fine sand. 
You know what happened. That provided each goose with 
a shoe made of sand and fastened on with tar. And that 
was the pair of road shoes which each goose wore to town. 

Now for the story which goes with the pair of “water 
shoes,” which each goose wore to town. You will know what 
I mean by the “water shoes” when you look closely at a goose’s 
foot. You will notice a three-cornered strip of skin, perfectly 
fitted and fastened between the toes, making what we some- 
times call a “web-foot.” Immediately you will say, “A foot 
like that was never intended to walk to town over a hard road, 
but that foot is the very best kind of a water paddle.’ And 
you would be exactly right. The goose’s foot would become 
more worn and crippled in walking two miles over a hard road 
than in paddling twenty miles on a river or lake. 

Why? We are always saying “why,” as we go about in 
this wonderful world God has given us to live in. Why does 


250 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


a goose have just that kind of foot? Is this the answer? 
Doesn't the goose have a foot like a water-paddle because the 
goose does its most important traveling on the water instead 
of on the land? And if we should visit all the many creatures 
which God has in this world, we should find that each one 
of them has just the kind of a foot for the way it lives and 
for the kind of work it is expected to do. 

Let us go to the barnyard and see if that is true. Look 
at the different styles of shoes. The cow, the sheep, and the 
pig wear about the same style of shoes, but not so with the 
horse. He wears a very different style. J. wonder why? 
Look at the hen. Her shoe is not exactly like that of the~ 
goose. And up there in a tree clinging to a tiny twig is a 
bird. If its shoe was as clumsy as that of the goose or the 
pig it would tumble out of bed at night when it goes to sleep 
on a limb. There comes the dog and the cat. Their shoes 
seem somewhat alike, but how very different they are! Puss 
can climb a tree like a flash, but not so with Towser. 

But suppose we visit the city park and take a look at the 
animals in the Zoo. Remember we are out studying shoes 
to see why there are so many different styles worn by God’s 
creatures. Look at the elephant’s big, broad, tough leather 
shoe. And let’s look very closely at the camel’s funny shoe. 
If the camel had to wear the same style shoe as the cow, it 
could never travel all day on the burning desert sand as it can 
do with its own queer shoe. And if Mr. Squirrel should by 
chance some morning put on Mr. Rabbit’s shoes, it would 
be his last day, for he couldn’t climb a tree to save his life. 

Now for one closing minute, will you notice your own foot 
and see how perfectly it is suited to what you want it to do. 
And now look at your “front foot.” I mean, of course, your 
hand. Just think what the hand can do! It wields a shovel, 
an ax, a broom, a needle and it takes a pen and writes the 
world’s books and papers. With a brush it paints the world’s 
pictures and with a chisel it carves the world’s statuary. 
It binds up the wound and clasps the hand of a friend, or 
gently pats the cheek of a baby. This hand of ours has a 
story which it tells in every wonderful movement it makes. 





PUTTING SHOES ON A GOOSE 251 


It tells us of the wisdom and love of our Father Creator. 
Isn’t this the answer to your “why’? And every time you 
see one of God’s animal creatures, you will look at its foot, 
won't you, and you will whisper to yourself: ‘What a won- 
derful Divine Creator we have.” And some day when you 
are reading your Bible, you will come upon this line, “O Lord, 
thou art our Father... and we all are the work of thy 
hand.” And you will whisper to yourself again, “Isn’t that 
wonderfully true!’ 


252 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


Jo 


THE SEA WALL 
Rev. T. E. Howie 


In the beautiful city of Victoria, British Columbia, where 
I lived a few years ago, the greater part of the coast line 
is rugged and rock-bound; but there is a small strip of soft 
soil which was being gradually washed away by the sea. To 
make matters worse, the cemetery was located on that part 
of the coast and some of ae graves were in danger of being 
washed out. 

To protect the coast a the ravages of the sea a concrete 
wall was built, against which the waves dashed in vain. 

Many young people’s lives are something like that coast 
line. For the most part, they are well fortified by what nature 
has done for them, but often there is some weak place where 
they are exposed to the onrush of strong temptation. 

What is the weak spot in your life? Perhaps an ungovern- 
able temper, a jealous spirit, an envious disposition, a feeble 
will, not exactly truthful, a trifle dishonest, a fatal fault of 
procrastination, or one of a score of other defects. 

Get busy and build a wall of defense along the weak places 
of your life. 

In Asia Minor, long ago, stood the strong city and castle 
of Sardis. It was the city of Croesus, the richest of men. 
Round it flowed the River Pactolus, whose sands were gold. 

Only on one side might it be attacked, and there a strong 
guard was set. On the others sheer precipices guarded it, 
hundreds of feet from plain to castle wall. 

Croesus went to war with Cyrus, King of Persia, and was 
badly beaten. But he retired to Sardis. No one, he felt, could 
capture Sardis. No one ever had. So he went to sleep with 
an easy mind. In the morning he wakened to find the soldiers 
of Cyrus by his bedside and his strong city taken. What had 
happened ? 


EE 


THE SEA WALL 258 


Sardis stands on a mighty rock, but it is a soft rock, and the 
wind and weather eat into it constantly. On its steepest side 


cracks had weathered in the rocks and the watchful moun- 


taineers of Cyrus marked the cracks, climbed them by night, 
clambered on the unguarded walls, came on the garrison from 
a quarter they did not expect and at an hour they knew not. 

The early Christians living in Sardis had some weak places 
in their characters, and lest they should fall a prey to their 
enemies Christ sent them a message by his servant, John, 
which you will find in the third chapter of Revelation, “Be 
watchful, and strengthen the things which remain. ... If 
therefore thou shalt not watch I will come on thee as a thief, 
and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” 

Let the coast at Victoria, the castle of Sardis, illustrate and 
enforce this message of Christ. 


“Leave no unguarded place, 
No weakness of the soul; 
Take every virtue, every grace, 
And fortify the whole.” 


254 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


100 
TELLING LIES 


Rev. ALFRED BARRATT 


There is an old English proverb that says “a lie has no legs.” 
This simply means that a lie cannot be of any use to any one 
along the journey of life. Telling lies is an instrument which 
Satan gives to boys and girls to use in the advancement of 
the kingdom of night. It is an instrument to tear down the 
walls of justice, righteousness and truth. But all good boys 
and girls never use this destructive instrument because they 
know that it will bring them sorrow—failure—and utter de- 
feat in the end. 

We read in the Book of Proverbs in the twelfth chapter of 
the 22nd verse, “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord 
but they that deal truly are his delight.” I do not know of 
anybody who has any faith in, or any respect for, a person 
who tells lies. Even the very people who tell lies themselves 
seem to despise others who are not truthful. It is a fact 
beyond contradiction that all through the ages there is nothing 
mentioned in the pages of history about any person or persons 
who did not respect a truthful man. But we do read over 
and over again instances of great men who were false being 
brought low and disgraced. 

Telling lies undermines character. It is a dangerous prac- 
tice, and has ruined many a boy and many a man. Telling 
the truth every time and all the time lays the foundation of 
a good character; it is the only sure way to the hall of fame, 
and the palace of prosperity. 

It is always best to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. 
I know it is always hard for a boy to tell the truth the first 
time, but when you have told it you have won the victory 
and that will end it. Then, again, there is something else; 
it will be easier for you to tell the truth the second and the 


TELLING LIES 255 


third time, and every other time. A boy is never lashed by 
his conscience when he speaks the truth. 

I remember several years ago having a ride on a “bob 
sleigh,” and when we had reached the bottom of the hill I was 
standing talking with the other boys when another “bob 
sleigh” came down with great speed and struck me right on 
the shin bone and made a big black bruise. My word, it did 
sting! Well, a lie is just like that—it stings you and makes 
a big black bruise on your soul. It not only stings, but it 
stuns you, and you are less noble and have less respect for 
yourself—then you feel ashamed and wish you had told the 
truth. 

The soul is very sensitive and refined, but when it has been 
bruised by sin it becomes hardened and loses its fine feeling. 
When I lived in England there was an iron foundry in the 
town where I lived, and flakes of soot would fall from the 
tall chimneys and light on my collar and cuffs, and even on 
my face, and when I tried to wipe them off there would come 
a long black smear. Lies make black smears on your soul 
just like that. Let me tell you a story about Abraham Lin- 
coln. One day when Abraham Lincoln was a boy he was out 
in the lane, carrying an axe, when his step-sister ran behind 
him playfully and leaped upon his shoulders and began to dig 
her knees into his back. This brought Abraham to the ground 
and caused him to drop the axe he was carrying right on 
her ankle and made a big cut there. While he was carefully 
bandaging up the wound he asked her what she should tell 
her mother when she reached home. “That I cut it with 
the axe,” said his sister. “Yes, that’s the truth, but it is not 
all the truth; you tell the whole truth.” She promised him 
she would and when she told her mother all about it she cheer- 
fully forgave her. 

Lincoln was a great man—he was honest and truthful, and 
after he was killed some one said: “Abe was the best boy I 
ever saw or expect to see.’’ People could always rely upon 
his word whenever he said “Yes” or “No” just once. That 
kind of respect does not come from telling the truth now 
and then, or telling a lie occasionally—that kind of respect 


256 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


and confidence comes from telling the truth every time and 
all the time. Remember God is watching and listening to 
everything we do or say, and he is always proud of an honest 
and truthful boy. 


Speak the truth, boys; speak the truth, 
And let your hearts be true to God. 
Stand for the right, boys, in your youth, 
A coward lies and fears the rod. 
Speak the truth, boys; dare to be true, 
And life will bring success to you. 


LIVING WITHOUT FEAR 257 


101 
LIVING WITHOUT FEAR 


Rev. AuFrrep Barratr 


Text: “T will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” Psalm 23: 4. 


If every boy and girl could really and truly feel the pres- 
ence of their loving Saviour with them every moment of the 
day and every step of the way, then under all circumstances 
they would fear no evil. It is in times of sorrow and pain 
that boys and girls often get afraid. 

A little boy who was only seven years old fell into one of 
the deep excavations for the New York subway one day, and 
was taken bruised and suffering to the nearest hospital. When 
the doctor began to examine his injuries little James took a 
deep breath. “I wish I could sing,” he said, looking up at 
the big doctor. “TI think I’d feel weller then.” “All right, 
you may sing,” said the doctor, and James began. So brave 
and sweet was the childish voice that after the first verse there 
was a round of applause from the listeners. As the doctor 
went on with the examination the boy winced a little, but 
struck up his singing again. The nurses and attendants hear- 
ing the sweet clear voice gathered from all parts of the build- 
ing until James had an audience of nearly one hundred. 
Through all the pain of the examination the child never lost 
the tune, and everybody was glad when the doctor announced, 
“Well, I guess you're all right, little man, I can’t find any 
broken bones.” “I guess it was the singing that fixed me,” 
said James. “I always sing when I feel bad,” he added simply. 

It is a wonderful thing to be able to sing when we are 
feeling discouraged and blue. But we cannot sing with a 
light heart unless we have confidence in our Heavenly Father. 
Confidence in God is the secret of a real happy life, and it 
helps us to live without fear. 


258 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


Two boys were once talking together about Elijah’s ascent 
into heaven in a chariot of fire. One boy said, “Wouldn't 
you be afraid to ride in such a chariot?’ “No,” said the 
other, ‘not if God drove.” 

There is nothing to fear when Jesus is near. God is driving 
the chariot of our human life. He is directing our path, 
and the reins are in his hand. Let us not be afraid when 
the path is dark and sometimes dreary. Let us believe in 
‘his leading, and hope and trust in his love and power. Then 
no evil can befall us. ‘i 

Several years ago a sea captain who was commanding a 
sailing ship between Liverpool and New York on one of the 
voyages had all his family on board with him. One night 
when all the passengers were fast asleep there arose a sudden 
storm which came sweeping over the waters until it struck 
the ship and threw her almost on her side, tumbling and 
crashing everything that was movable, and awaking the pas- 
sengers, filling them with fear lest they were in danger of 
losing their lives. Everybody on board was afraid and many 
of them jumped out of their berths and began to dress. The 
captain had a little daughter on board. She was just eight 
years old, and the storm awoke her with the rest. ‘What's 
the matter?’ cried the frightened child. They told her a 
storm had struck the ship and they were all in danger of 
being drowned. “Is father on deck?” she asked. “Yes, father 
is on deck,’ they replied. The little girl dropped herself 
on her pillow again without a fear, and in a few moments 
was fast asleep, in spite of the howling storm. She had con- 
fidence in her father because she loved him. 

Isn’t it wonderful to have such confidence in our parents ? 
Boys and girls, remember this, will you, the very next time 
a storm comes across your pathway, that there is no need for 
doubts or fears, because your loving Heavenly Father is on 
deck. Just when you need him the most he is always very 
near to you. 

Let me close with these beautiful lines by Oliver Wendell 
Holmes: 


LIVING WITHOUT FEAR 259 


“O love Divine that stooped to share 
Our deepest pang, our bitterest tear, 

On Thee we cast each earth-born care: 
We smile at pain while Thou art near. 


“Though long the weary way we tread 
And sorrows crown each lingering year, 
No path we shun, no darkness dread, 
Our heart still whispering ‘Thou art near.’ ” 


260 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


102 
LOOKING GLASSES ON MT. TOM 


Rev. Eart H. THayer 


One day last summer we went up Mt. Tom to get a better 
view of God’s country. We looked out of the windows of 
the house there and saw the plains and streams and hills. 
The land before us was made more pleasing to look at by 
forests and the homes of people. We could not see as clearly 
as we would like, but we found some things that God and 
man had made, and looking through them we could see things 
that could not be seen before. A’fter a time we looked about 
the room and discovered some looking-glasses. I stepped up 
to one and I saw a funny little fellow that looked like Van 
Loon and he looked like me and it made us laugh. Then I 
walked in front of another and I saw a fellow that looked 
like Mutt and he looked like me and we laughed again. I 
went around to another and there was a fellow that looked 
like Everett True and he looked like me. All these glasses 
made me look different, but I was no different. It was the 
same me all the time. The trouble was with the looking- 
glasses. They were curved. One was bent in such a way 
as to make me look short and fat, another so as to make me 
look tall and thin and the other big and stout. The looking- 
glasses were bent and so in them I looked different. 

There are looking-glasses everywhere. Did you ever look 
straight into the eyes of your friend and see yourself there? 
You seem to look all right there, but sometimes to others 
you look different than you are. If he is jealous of you he 
tries to make you feel small and funny by calling you a shrimp 
or something worse. You are no different; his mind is bent. 
He calls you names to make you think you are different. 
Sometimes when one hates you he calls you a Mutt to make 
you feel thin and silly, but if he hates you his mind is bent 


LOOKING GLASSES ON MT. TOM 261 


and he cannot see true. You are no different. Sometimes 
mother calls you her big boy or her big girl when her mind 
is bent with pride, but you are no different, How people 
see you and what they call you does not change you. There 
is only one who sees you just as you are, and he is God. You 
ought to try to please him. It is nice to please your friends, 
it is better to please mother, but it is best to please God. Jesus 
said, “I always do the things that are pleasing to him!” 


262 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


103 


GOD’S FIRE-ENGINE 
(Story Sermon) 
Rev. Grorce W. ALLEN 


Now, children, listen hard, because I am going to tell you 
a dandy story; and best of all it is actually true. 

Many years ago when I was a little boy, my father and 
mother and I were greatly excited one night to hear the fire- 
bell clanging. We quickly hitched our horse to a wagon 
and started off to see the fire, which proved to be at the foot 
of a long, steep hill. 

Now the town had a fine, big fire-engine, but it was too 
heavy for the horses to pull rapidly up-hill. On this eventful 
night, the horses were quickly hitched to it and away they 
went, clattering down the streets, the bell on the engine ring- 
ing for right-of-way, and the sparks shooting out of the 
smoke-stack like a thousand little sky-rockets, 

In a very few minutes the old engine stood by the fire, 
puffing and wheezing as hard as the horses were ; and then, 
after all that excitement and racing, there was no water for 
the firemen to use! The nearest they could find was a deep 
well on top of a desperately steep grade about two hundred 
and fifty feet long. 

The driver immediately turned the horses up the hill, but, 
alas, it was too much. They were just “all in,” They were 
willing enough, but were “winded” and couldn’t pull the engine 
up the grade. 

Then the fire chief ordered the horses removed, and called 
for volunteers among the men to drag the engine up to the 
well. Everybody was willing; and in almost no time that 
old machine was just surrounded with men. Some lifted on 
the wheels. Some got behind and pushed. Some took hold 
of the whipple-trees, and some grabbed the tongue. Every 


GOD’S FIRE-ENGINE 263 


man got hold where he could do the most; and at a given 
signal from the chief, each man just buckled down to his 
own task and that fire-engine went rumbling up the hill until 
it stood by the open well. 

The hose was quickly stretched down to the fire, and the 
pump began to spit water at that building just like a cornered 
cat does at a bull-terrier. The situation was saved. Not one 
of the other buildings caught fire. 

Now that little incident taught me that co-operation and 
teamwork is stronger than brute force. 

Do you know there are many evils in the world that are 
destroying humanity just as that fire was burning that build- 
ing? Cigarettes, dance halls, gambling machines, “home- 
brew,’ Sunday amusement parks, and cheap moving pictures, 
and many other sly and tricky evils are rapidly wiping out 
all traces of manhood and womanhood in people. 

But there is one great force that is fighting these evils; and 
that is the church. The church is God’s fire-engine, if you 
please, but the church is useless without Christ, as the engine 
was without water. 

You'll be a volunteer, won’t you? Sure you will! Just 
as those men crowded around that engine at the fire, so you, 
too, will rally around Christ’s church and work with all your 
might to fight the evils of our day. 


264 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


104 
THE BASKET AND THE MIND 
Rev. Ernest V. Cowen 


Probably you cannot see much resemblance between this 
basket, which I hold in my hand, and your mind, but I am 
going to try and show you the ways in which they are alike. 

But [ think that I will begin by calling your attention to 
the great difference between them. The basket you can see, 
but your mind you cannot. The mind is the invisible thinking 
part of aman. It works out our problems for us. It is the 
directing, the deciding part of one’s self. It tells us where 
to go and what to do. 

The mind is like this basket in that it all depends upon 
what you put into it. A very fine box may hold very coarse 
things. There is a story told about a certain Eastern king, 
who had a very faithful servant whom he had raised from 
a lowly position to be the chief man in his kingdom. Some 
of the people got jealous of this man’s prosperity and of his 
favor with the king, so they tried to do him harm by carrying 
tales to the king of a wonderfully beautiful chest which this 
man owned and which he used to open secretly at night; and 
they assured the king that he was putting money and treasure 
stolen from the king in that box. The king believed them and 
went instantly to this man’s house and commanded him to 
open the box in his presence. At first the man objected, but 
finally at the royal command he obeyed, and the box was found 
to contain just the suit of old clothes which this man wore 
when the king first found him. He had kept them to remind 
him of the lowly estate from which he had risen; and used to 
look at them often to keep himself humble. 

On the other hand a very coarse box may hold very precious 
things. It is said that a certain man was suspected of smug- 
gling jewels into the United States without paying the duty 


THE BASKET AND THE MIND 265 


on them, but the officials could never find them, though they 
searched him thoroughly. At last some one suggested that 
they should search the crutch he carried—for he was a lame 
man—and they found it to be hollow and full of jewels. 

So, you see, it all depends upon what you put into your 
mind. You can put into it, if you want to, old, coarse, dirty 
things; like that man’s old clothes, or you can put into it 
beautiful, precious, priceless things, like the jewels the man 
had in his crutch. 

But remember, you cannot more than fill it. This basket 
will not hold more than just so much, neither will your mind. 
I have somewhere heard of a boy who got to reading those 
flashy stories of detectives and adventure which are so com- 
mon. Then one day he came home from school with very 
low marks in all his studies and the worst of it was that he 
could not imagine why it was so. His father, who had been 
watching him, told him to go and get a basket, carry it to 
the wood-pile, fill it with chips and bring it to him. So the 
boy did as he was told and brought the filled basket to his 
father, who now told him to take it down into the cellar and 
fill it with apples. “But,” said the boy, “how can I? It is full 
already.” “Well,” said his father, “that is what you are 
trying to do with your mind. You have filled it full of these 
trashy tales, and then you try to fill it over again with your 
lessons. One or the other must go, for there is not room 
in your mind for both.” Girls and boys, it must be chips, 
apples, silly stories or something better; which shall it be? 

It follows then that there are some things that we ought 
not to put into our minds. 

And one of the things that we ought to keep out is silly 
little vanities. Sometimes older people fill their minds with 
them, as well as younger ones. It always grieves me to see 
older people, who ought to know better, teaching girls and boys 
to be vain. Girls, beware of vanity in dress. Don’t go to 
extremes. When I see a girl whose whole mind is taken 
up with her clothes, I think that she is just about as wise 
as I would be if I sat down to dinner, threw away the meat 
and made my meal off the sauce. Look at something more 


266 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


than the outside. Think of the mind, the character and the 
soul as well as of the face. A’ girl who was dressed in the 
height of fashion and was shivering in the east wind said 
to an old Quaker friend of hers, “Oh, what shall I do to 
get warm?” The Quaker replied, “I cannot tell thee, unless 
that shouldst put on another ring.” Despite the proverb, fine 
feathers do not make fine birds, or if it is true of the birds 
it most certainly is not true of girls and boys. 

Again, don’t put in bad or silly books. Nothing has more 
influence over us than our reading, our book friends. Parents, 
I may say in passing that it is a most serious thing for you 
to neglect your children’s reading. You ought to select their 
reading till they have formed a wise taste. I am afraid of 
many of the books I see in-your hands, girls and boys. Some 
of them are positively bad and will do you real harm; others 
of them are silly and will do you harm too. Don’t forget that 
bad books will make you bad and silly. There is not room 
in your head for both good and bad books and the danger is 
that the bad books will crowd out the good ones. 

Remember that we must become like the things that we 
are constantly putting into our minds. Nothing can prevent 
it. I went into a store the other day and I saw a great, big, 
staring, green bottle, and when I turned around here was 
another one, only this was blue, and there were others, some 
of them red, some of them yellow and other colors too. I 
said to the proprietor, ‘How do they make the glass of those 
bottles different colors?’ He looked at me in a pitying sort 
of way, and said, “It isn’t the bottles, it’s the liquid we put 
in them which gives the color.” So, you see, it makes all 
the difference what you put into your mind. When I was in 
London, England, I went into St. Paul’s Cathedral and the 
guide told us to listen to the wonderful echo there; but I 
noticed that it didn’t say anything that we didn’t say first. 
So our life will echo our mind, and what our mind will be 
in the future depends upon what we put into it now. 


GRINDSTONES 267 


105 
GRINDSTONES 


Rev. AtFrep Barratt 


Text: “God is my strength and power.” 2 Samuel 22: 33. 


I wonder if you know anything about grindstones, and 
where the finest in the world are found? Nearly every boy 
is interested in grindstones. We see them in the blacksmith’s 
shop, the carpenter’s shop, in mills and factories, on the farm, 
in the modern shoe-repairing shop, and even on the jeweler’s 
bench you will find a grindstone. But we never stop to think 
and ask the question, “Where do they come from?” Well 
has some one said that the best grindstones in the world are 
found in the Bay of Fundy. They are not easily got because 
they are down deep at the very bottom of the sea, and I 
know you can never guess how those men whose occupation 
it is to provide the world with grindstones ever succeed in 
getting them. It is very interesting to know, and if you will 
just listen I will tell you how they do it. 

Grindstone rock is very hard and solid, and has to be 
blasted with dynamite before it can be. brought to the surface 
and made into grindstones. The workmen are governed by 
the tide. They can only work when the tide is out, which, 
as you all know, happens twice every day. But. they cannot 
do all the work themselves, they have to depend upon the tide 
or upon the power of God to help them because the tide is 
their best helper and does the hardest and most important part 
of the work. When the tide is out these men walk out to 
the place where the grindstone rock is, and they quarry the 
stones from the solid rock in very large pieces. In fact, they 
are so large that they cannot be moved by human strength, 
so they must have another source of strength. When they 
are ready to remove these huge pieces of rock to the place 


268 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


where they are made into grindstones they fasten strong, 
heavy chains around them and attach them to a big flat-boat. 
When this is done the men get into the boat and wait for the 
tide to help them to complete the work that they have begun. 

Then comes the great mighty rolling, roaring, rushing tide— 
rushing like a mad Niagara with a set determination to reach 
its destination. It is certainly a very beautiful sight to see 
the great white-crested billows rolling like great moun- 
tains rising sometimes higher than a house. And now the 
workmen have done their part there is nothing more for them 
to do. They have taken hold with the tide, or should I rather 
say, they have taken hold with God? and it is his mighty 
power that works with them and for them, because the lifting 
power of the sea is surely a part of God’s strength and 
omnipotence? 

The rising tide lifts the boat, and the huge rock that has 
been fastened to it comes up with it. That is just how God 
helps these men. God loves to help people. He delights to 
help boys and girls, and men and women. Those who take 
hold of his strength and power can never, never fail. When 
the farmer plants the seed he takes hold of God’s strength. 
When the sailor spreads his sail in the wind he takes hold 
of God’s strength. When the wireless operator sends out his 
message on the air he takes hold of God’s strength. For the 
beautiful sunshine that makes the seed grow, the wind that 
drives the boat and the secret energy that carries the message 
to the ends of the earth, all these are from God. They are 
God’s strength and power. 

But listen again. There are a great many harder things 
than raising grindstones out of the sea. It is not always an 
easy thing to speak the truth, to be kind and good, and to do 
that which is right. It is not always easy to keep one’s temper, 
to be unselfish and true, to say “No” to the tempter and to 
live honorably in the presence of your companions. These 
are the times when you need help, when human strength is 
of no avail, and that is just when God comes around and 
offers his help and strength. Every boy and girl can claim 
the strength and power of God like David did, and if you 


GRINDSTONES 269 


will do this he will make you strong and courageous in every 
conflict, and victor at last over every foe. Will you try this 
strength and power in the future? Now don’t forget the text, 
and say with David “God is my strength and power.” 


270 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


106 
WITH YOU ALWAY 


Rev. Aurrep Barratt 


Text: “Lo, I am with you alway.” Matthew 28:20. 


This beautiful promise made by Jesus Christ should prove 
to be a great source of strength and courage and inspiration 
to boys and girls as they start out in the world on their God- 
given tasks. The reason why so many boys and girls fail and 
never accomplish anything in life is because they never seek 
the help, nor desire the presence of Jesus Christ. They prefer 
to go on in their own way, and they do not like to be told 
what is right and what is wrong. This is a mistaken course 
to take, because it leads into the paths of unrighteousness, and 
ends in the valley of destruction. 

The boys and girls whose young hearts are just bubbling 
over with happiness and glee are those who constantly feel 
the presence of Jesus Christ with them in everything they do 
and everywhere they go. It always makes you feel good to 
know that you have a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother. 
No one can ever go astray, or ever fail in this life if conscious 
of the presence of him who says, “Lo, I am with you alway.” 
But how different it is when you go alone. There is no joy 
in life, and no peace of mind. You can always tell the boys 
and girls who are going through life alone, because they are 
unkind, dishonorable, cowardly, untruthful, thoughtless, and 
cruel. They are mean and selfish, and their language is not 
always good to listen to, and their company is not worth seek- 
ing after. They are not happy and cheerful, but rather gloomy 
and sad, and even jealous of those who have the sweet and 
cheering presence of Jesus with them. 

Then there is another thought. It is this, when Jesus is 
with you there is nothing to fear. 

Perhaps you have heard about the incident that happened 


WITH YOU ALWAY 271 


in the days when there was a war between France and Spain. 
The Spaniards were driving the French before them and slay- 
ing them in large numbers. During this slaughter the Span- 
lards sent an insulting note to the French Commander, Gen- 
eral Coligny, with the words, ““We are more numerous than 
you, surrender.” When General Coligny received the note he 
wrote his reply on a piece of paper and fastened it to an 
arrow, and shot it back into the Spanish camp. The note 
read, “Surrender? Never, we have a King with us.” If 
Jesus is with you there will never be a time when you will 
have to surrender to the attacks of the enemy. Let Jesus 
come into your life and he will be a true and loving friend 
to you. To those who are weary and heavy laden this loving — 
friend is near, ready and willing to help with his measureless 
resources. He will strengthen the weak shoulder for the load. 
He will give you his joy to cheer your heart. He will give 
you his peace to calm your fears, and, best of all, he gives you 
his promise, “Let not your heart be troubled. . . . Lo, I am 
with you alway.” 

Perhaps you have heard the story about the courage of 
General Gordon. If you have, it is worth listening to again. 
During the Crimean war the Russian army, forcing its way 
with severe fighting and heavy losses, landed into the English 
trenches. While they were fighting for dear life General 
Gordon stood on the sidewalk in very great danger of his 
life, with nothing but a stick in his hand encouraging the 
brave English soldiers to drive out the Russians. When the 
men saw him risking his life they shouted, “Gordon, come 
down, come down, you'll be killed.” But he paid no attention, 
and a soldier who was near cried out, “It’s all right, ’e don’t 
mind being killed; ’e’s one o’ those blessed Christians.” Gen- 
eral Gordon had faith in the promises of God, and if you 
are trusting in Jesus as your strength and stay you will surely 
come off “more than conquerors through him that loved us.” 
He says, “When thou passeth through the waters I will be 
with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow 
thee.” “Neither shall the flames kindle upon thee for I am 
Jehovah thy God.” 


272 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


“Give to the wind thy fears, 
Hope and be undismayed: 

God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears; 
God shall lift up thy head, 

Through wave and cloud and storm 
He gently clears the way. 

Wait then his time; the darkest night 
Shall end in brightest day.” 


a ae 


THE LETTER OF LIFE 273 


107 
THE LETTER OF LIFE 


Rev. Wiiuarp P. Sorrer 


“Ye are an epistle of Christ, . . . written not with ink, but with the 
spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in tables that 
are hearts of flesh.” 2 Corinthians, 3: 3. 


From your instruction in school and from your experience 
in life you have learned how to write a good letter. You 
know the requisites of an ideal personal letter. They are at 
least four. 

The writing must be legible. The letter must be neat. The 

letter must contain thoughts that are of interest or of help, 
either giving information or encouragement. The letter must 
have these thoughts expressed pleasingly and in good lan- 
guage. 
Such are elements in an ideal letter. And these are figura- 
tive for elements in an ideal life. Each one of our lives is, 
figuratively speaking, a letter—an epistle to be read and known 
of men. Each one of us is constantly writing the letter of 
life. There are some who are just writing the introductory 
words. To them the letter seems a big undertaking. They 
know not what to write. There are some who are in the 
midst of the letter of life trying to pen word after word 
steadily and thoughtfully, doing the duties of active life that 
lie nearest to them. Then there are those who have nearly 
finished the allotted letter of life and are about to have the 
envelope closed and sealed and addressed. 

Throughout this letter of life, each day a line is written. 
How are you writing and how will you write each line? Will 
you try to have it in accord with the ideal letter? 

I, Legibility. As it is not of great importance whether 
the letters are large or small, so the main concern is not 
whether we hold a great or small position in the world but 


274 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


how we live whatever our position or province may be. If 
one is square, honest, upright then he can truly easily be read. 
If he has not these qualities he endeavors to keep his life 
writing blurred and indistinct because he is ashamed to be 
read and known of men. Sin can’t stand the light. 

Legible life writing is not that which is guided by impulse 
and is erratic and one moment far above the line doing things 
excellent and the next moment far below the line doing things 
evil. It does not go by fits and jerks. It has steadiness and 
regularity throughout to the very end. It is kept steady and 
straight by a purpose and the highest purpose. 

Ii. Will your letter of life possess neatness? Think of 
its order and arrangement. There is the paragraphing—the 
proper dividing up of one’s interest and one’s time. Life’s 
interests should take their places like soldiers falling into line, 
from broken ranks—the general, the colonels, the captains, the 
privates each in his place. But to hold to our main figure, 
give a big paragraph to your education, Give a big paragraph 
to your home, another to your community life, another to the 
church. In the midst of your daily work whatever it may 
be and in the midst of your pleasure, do not omit these other 
paragraphs. 

Aside from proper paragraphing, there is needed for neat- 
ness, a lack of erasures. Our letter of life ought not to be 
filled with a lot of little evil deeds which though they may 
be erased, nevertheless leave a bad mark. Unkind words 
spoken in a moment of vexation, thoughtless deeds working 
harm, evil thoughts tempting character—such things though 
sometimes small tend to take the beauty of neatness from 
the letter of life. 

Then there are the blots so large that they cannot be erased. 
They may be erased in the sight of God, but they leave such 
mark upon life that it is almost spoiled. The body may be 
broken; the intellect may be warped; the moral reason, that 
most godlike faculty, may be injured and conscience no longer 
able to do the thing it was intended to do, A'nd along with 
these things there passes the reputation. “A good name is 


THE LETTER OF LIFE 275 


rather to be chosen than great riches.” One single blot, one 
single great mistake is ofttimes remembered longer than all 
the good things of life. 

III. Our letter of life must have that which is helpful to 
others. We must live not for ourselves primarily, but for 
other selves. We do not own our lives, we owe them. The 
greatest good to the greatest number is a splendid aim. That 
means to serve rather than to be served. Be not guilty of 
making the chief aim of your life pleasure or wealth or fame 
or knowledge, but service, which of course must include char- 
acter. It is our duty to work hard to make our lives in every 
way as strong as we can make them. But the main reason 
for a person’s laboring with all his might to become a power 
physically, intellectually, socially, financially, spiritually or any 
other way is that with that power he may become of greater 
service to mankind. 

IV. Again, will you in a kindly and tactful and straight- 
forward way express those helpful things? There is an old 
saying, “It isn’t so much what you say as how you say it.” 
At any rate the way words are spoken and deeds are done 
counts for much. “Christian courtesy,” says Robert Speer, 
“is just the width of the margin between common decency 
and our social ways.” Strive to have a big width of that 
margin. Put yourself in the place of the other person before 
you say the word that hurts. Aim for a background of 
Christian culture that out of that background may proceed 
your words and deeds. 

When we have mailed a letter, it has gone from our control. 
Doubtless you have experienced the feeling of regret for words 
written that you wish could be recalled but cannot be, before 
they have reached the appointed eyes and have done their 
work. You have known the feeling of regret for words 
spoken and deeds done in life’s letter. Apologies may be 
given and accepted, but the wrong still may exist. Sometimes 
nothing can blot it out. 

Let us have a care for each line of our letter of life. Each 
line should be just as perfect as we can make it. It can never 


276 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


be torn up or erased and rewritten though God can forgive. 
With Shakespeare, “What’s done is done and ’tis well ’twere 
well done.” 


“Life is a sheet of paper white, 

Whereon each one of us may write 

His word or two, and then comes night; 
Though thou hast time 

But for a line—be that sublime, 

Not failure but low aim is crime.” 


Se ee 


ond ) 


WHAT’S THE USE OF PRAYING? 277 


108 
WHAT’S THE USE OF PRAYING? 


Rev. AuFrep Barratr 


Text: “I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray.” 1 Samuel 
Ter t 


Iam wondering if the boys and girls who are hearing these 
story sermons are boys and girls who say their prayers. You 
cannot be Christians without prayer. Some people try to be, 
but they are miserable failures, They think they can be godly 
without God, Christlike without Christ, good people without 
reading their Bible and saying their prayers. But this cannot 
be. Did you ever see a tree without roots, or an eagle with- 
out wings? Well, then, you never saw a Christian who could 
not and would not pray. We need to pray. We could not 
live the Christian life unless we did pray. Montgomery wrote 
the truth when he wrote those beautiful words: 


“Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath, 
The Christian’s native air.” 


And yet in spite of this great truth some boys and girls 
ask this foolish question, ‘“What’s the use of praying?’ It 
is an old question. Did you ever hear a boy or girl ask the 
question, “‘What’s the use of breathing?’ We all know that 
our bodies would die if we did not breathe. Breathing is the 
only true sign of life. It is good to breathe because while 
we are breathing we are living, and we all like to live. So 
how what breathing is to the body praying is to the soul. It 
is good to pray because while we are praying it is a true sign 
that our soul is still living. Jesus tells us to pray because 
he wants us to live. So you see it is very clear that a boy 
or girl who is a Christian cannot afford to quit praying, be- 
cause the very moment you stop praying you cease to live the 


De ad 





278 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


life of a Christian. It pays to pray, for when you pray God 
listens. He loves to hear the children pray. 

There is a story told about a little shepherd boy who was 
obliged to keep watch over the sheep, and so could not go 
to church. But in his heart there grew a longing to pray 
to God as they were doing in the church. He had never. been 
taught to pray and did not know what to say, but he wanted 
to pray, and so, kneeling down, he began with closed eyes and 
folded hands saying the alphabet, ““A, B, C, D,” and on to the 
end. ‘What are you doing, my little man?” said a gentleman 
who was passing by. ‘Please, sir, I was praying,” replied 
the boy. “But why are you saying your letters?’ “Why,” 
said the little fellow, “I didn’t know any prayer, only I felt 
I wanted God to take care of me and help me to take care 
of the sheep, so I thought if I said all I knew he would put 
it together and spell all I wanted.” “Bless your heart, my 
little man, he will! When the heart speaks right, the lips 
can’t say wrong,” said the gentleman. 

We are not all gifted to use nice language, but when we 
kneel in prayer God does not listen to the eloquence of the 
tongue. He listens to the desire of the heart. It is not always 
what you say, but just what you mean, that God listens to. 

Have you heard about that old man’s prayer in one of our 
city hospitals? The doctors were getting ready an old man 
upon whom they were going to perform an operation. He 
was stretched out on the operating table, and when at length 
everything was in readiness one of the doctors brought the 
chloroform. The old man raised his head and said, “Wait 
a moment’; then folding his hands and closing his eyes he 
began to repeat the little prayer which he used to say at his 
mother’s knee: 

“Now I lay me down to sleep, 
I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to keep; 
If I should die before I wake, 


I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to take, 
And this I ask for Jesus’ sake. Amen.” 


The doctors bowed their heads reverently and waited, and 
when he had finished he looked up calmly and said, “I am 


Se 


WHAT’S THE USE OF PRAYING? 279 


ready.” Do you still say, ‘““What’s the use of praying?” I 
have learned to believe that it is always best to spend a little 
time in prayer. If we only knew it would cheer our hearts 
in the days of sorrow or trouble to be conscious of the fact 
that our Heavenly Father looks down upon us with a smile 
upon his face when we take time to pray. 

There is a sweet story told by Robert Louis Stevenson. of 
a storm that once caught a vessel off a rocky coast and threat- 
ened to drive it and its passengers to destruction. In the 
midst of the terror one daring man, contrary to orders, went 
to the deck, made a very dangerous passage to the pilot house, 
saw the steersman lashed fast at his post, holding the wheel 
unwaveringly and inch by inch turning the ship once more 
out to sea. The pilot saw the watcher and smiled. Then 
the daring passenger went back to the other passengers in 
the lower part of the vessel and gave out a note of cheer. 
“T have seen the face of the pilot and he smiled. All is well.” 
Let us imitate the example of the shepherd boy and also that 
of the old man, and at all times and under all circumstances 
by prayer seek the face of our Heavenly Father, and then 
whatever happens we can say with the same confidence of 
that daring passenger on the vessel in the storm, “I have seen 
the face of my Pilot and He smiles, and all is well.” Will 
you do this? Begin in the days of your youth to pray with- 
out ceasing, and your life will be filled with happiness the 
rest of your days. 


280 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


109 
FAITH IN OTHERS 
(Object Sermon) 
Rey. Lesure F. Dunxin 


Equipment. A roasted peanut in the hull. 

Preparation. Since this is to be a surprise for the boys 
and girls bring the peanut to the pulpit without their knowl- 
edge. Announce about three weeks ahead of time that on a 
certain date there will be brought to the meeting something 
that nobody has ever seen. This will be shown to the boys 
and girls and then will be placed where nobody will ever see 
it again. Announce this as often as possible previous to the 
time for it, as curiosity forms a strong drawing-card for this 
talk. 

Assistant. A boy or girl to eat the peanut. 

Presentation. (The Leader Speaking.) Will some boy or 
girl tell us what I promised to show you this morning? James, 
you tell us. Yes, I said that I was going to show you some- 
thing that nobody had ever seen before and then I was going 
to put it where nobody would ever see it again. Now I will 
need some help to do all of this, so I am going to ask Florence 
to stand with me here to see that I do what I have promised 
and to help me. 

Let’s think for a moment about what I am going to do. I 
have promised to show you something that nobody has ever 
seen. It has been necessary for me to get this and bring it 
here without seeing it and without anybody else seeing it. 
Can you imagine how that can be done? No, the person 
who gave it to me had never seen it, nor has anybody else. 
Then, too, I promised to take this unseen thing and show it 
to you so that everybody here can see it. We will be the first 
ones who have ever seen it. After looking at it closely and 
examining it, I will then place it away where nobody will ever 





FAITH IN OTHERS 281 


see it again. No, we ourselves will never see it again, nor 
will anybody else. We will be the only ones to see it. 

I am going to put my hand in my pocket and take that 
thing in my hand. There, I have it all closed up tight in my 
hand. Now how many of you believe that I have such a 
thing and can do as I said? Raise your hands. Now be 
honest. How many think I can’t? Raise your hands. 

Let’s look at it. Yes, it is a peanut and somebody has seen 
this before. I will take the hull off. There is the kernel. 
Nobody has ever seen that before, has he? Look at it sharp. 
Now how many believe that I have showed you something 
nobody has seen before? Raise your hands. Yes, all of you 
can believe it now. 

Now let’s finish our promise. Florence, you open your 
mouth. There, I have put it in her mouth and she has eaten 
it. Will anybody ever see that peanut kernel again? No, 
nobedy ever will. 

How many believe that I can do as I promised at first? 
Raise your hands. Yes, all of you believe it now, because 
I have done it. 

There is a little word called “Faith.” Those of you who 
were sure I could do as I had promised before I did it had 
faith in me and my word. Those who were sure I could not 
did not have faith in me and my word. After I did it, then 
you had faith in me. Now if I were to say I could do some- 
thing else that might seem impossible how many would have 
faith enough in me to believe that I could do it? Raise your 
hands. Yes, all of you have faith in me now. 


282 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


110 
THREE LESSONS THE CANDLE TAUGHT 
(Object Sermon) 
Rev. Henry F. Burpon 


Preached the Sunday following a tremendous storm that put 
the lighting system out of commission. The object was a half- 
burned candle in a candlestick. 

I was passing through an upstairs room in the parsonage 
the other day when my eye fell on this candle. The moment 
he caught my eye I seemed to hear him say—“Preach about 
me.7 

Now he is not a very attractive object, is he? A brand- 
new candle would look lots better, wouldn’t it? But do you 
know I admire this old fellow very much. I will tell you why. 

Do you remember what happened last Monday? We had 
a terrific storm—yes. 

And what did the storm do? It broke the wires and blew 
down the poles and left us without electric lights. I suppose 
you did the same at your house as we did at ours—you got 
out all the lamps and candles and lighted them. 

Well, this candle was one of them. He had been laid away 
in an obscure corner somewhere and forgotten. No one knew 
or cared where he was until there was no electricity. But 
when we pressed the button and there was no light forthcom- 
ing then we remembered the candle. He was brought out 
from his hiding place and put to work. 

Now I said I would tell you why I admire this old candle. 

Ist—Because he did not sulk when he was taken out of the 
box and say, “Well, you didn’t have any use for me when 
you had electric lights and I just won’t help you now.” 

Haven't you seen folks like that? If they can’t be first, 
they won't help at all. If somebody is asked to take part and 
they are not, they sulk about it. If they are asked to do 


THREE LESSONS THE CANDLE TAUGHT 283 


something that some other person has been asked to do and 
refused, they say—‘‘Play second fiddle—I guess not.” 

The New Testament tells of a man named Diotrephes who 

“loved to have the preeminence among them.” 

Now that is not the best spirit. Jesus said, “If any would 
be great among you let him be your servant.” 

And I admire this candle— 

2nd—Because it did not try to be an electric light or do 
the work of electricity, but was content to be a candle and do 
the work of a candle. 

The electric lights give ten and fifteen and forty candle- 
power light. The electric power turns washing machines, runs 
vacuum cleaners, heats flatirons and all sorts of things. 

All the candle could do was to give just one small candle 
power light. But how cheerful that little light was in the 
midst of darkness! He knew he could not do any of the tasks 
electricity does and he did not try. 

And just here is the lesson we need to learn. If we can’t 
do great things, let us be content to do and be just what we 
can. If we have only one candle power let us make that one 
candle power count mightily. God will honor the effort. 

Have you heard the story of the king who built a great 
temple to God and had his name inscribed in a conspicuous 
place? In a dream he saw his name removed and another 
name in its place and the voice of God told him the other 
name was more deserving of the place of honor. 

The king was very angry and his agents sought out the 
owner of the name. They found her, an old widow who 
could not do much to honor God, but every day she would 
give water to the tired, thirsty horses that hauled the great 
stones for the temple. She had but one candle power, but 
God honored her for using it. 

And I admire this candle— 

3rd—Because it was willing to give itself to help us. 

To give light the candle had to give itself. Just as soon 
as the match lit the wick the candle began to disappear. Every 
ray of good cheer it gave to us meant the sacrifice of itself. 

That is true of all service. No service worth the name is 


284 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


ever done without we spend ourselves in the doing. And in 
self-spending for others we honor God. 
You remember that Lowell says— 


“Who giveth himself with his gift feeds three, 
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me” 


—that is Christ. 
This is why the half-burned candle seems so much more 
attractive than the new one, 


THE WASP 285 


111 
THE WASP 
Rev. T. E. Horie 


Is there any insect prettier to look upon than a beautiful 
wasp? The busy bee that gives us honey is not nearly so 
handsome in appearance. The wonderful head, the gauzy 
gossamer wings, the exquisitely striped body of the wasp arrest 
our attention and excite our admiration. But beautiful as 
it appears to the naked eye, it reveals its grace of form and 
glory of color to a great degree when put under a microscope. 

And yet nobody likes the wasp; of all insects this is perhaps 
the most unpopular. Everybody tries to get out of the way 
of the wasp and few people feel any compunction of con- 
science if they kill it. 

One of the first things I discovered about the parsonage 
where I have lived for nearly a year was a hornets’ nest near 
one of the windows of the sun parlor. The painter came a 
few days after I arrived to paint the outside of the house. 
His first business was to try to get the hornets to depart so 
that he might paint in peace. But they were loth to leave. 
He tried to drive them out, to drown them out, and to smoke 
them out, but they showed a determination to stay. It was 
only after a protracted fight that they were driven away in 
defeat. 

Why all this hostility to the beautiful wasp? It is because 
of the sting. And what causes the wasp to sting? Why, 
when it is irritated and made angry. It is a bad temper that 
spoils the wasp’s beauty. 

There are young people who have attractive beauty, but, 
alas! it is spoiled by the sting of a sharp temper. Their beauty 
attracts, but their temper repels. Is there anything that will 
take the sting out of an otherwise beautiful life? Much may 
be accomplished by one’s own watchful effort, but to get the 


286 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


poison of evil out of one’s nature there is the promise and 
power of divine grace. Let Jesus come into your heart, bring- 
ing the sweetness of his saving grace, taking away unlovely 
tempers, and in their place causing his own spirit to dwell. 


THE NEW EYE-GLASSES 287 


112 


THE NEW EYE-GLASSES 
Rey. James M. Farrar, D.D. 
Text: “Bear ye one another’s burdens.” Galatians 6: 2. 


Did you see that very large man who walked past your 
house yesterday? What a splendid fellow he would be to 
carry our burdens! We could pile a number of them on one 
of his shoulders and then some more of them on his other 
shoulder, and he could carry them right along for us. Then 
did you notice his big arms? He could just take his arms 
full of our burdens and carry them for us. Did you see his 
hands? Why, we could hang a burden on each of his ten 
fingers and they would not seem heavier than your little ring. 
The Bible says, “Bear ye one another’s burdens.” If we had 
more big, strong men we could have all our burdens carried 
for us. 

By the way, did you see that little girl who passed the 
house yesterday? What a pretty little girl she was. But she 
did not have big, strong shoulders and her arms did not seem 
able to carry any heavy burdens. Her tiny little fingers are 
so small that even a little burden might break one of them. 
She seems to need that tiny ring to hold the finger on her 
hand. It is not about this big man that I want to talk to 
you, for he may not be carrying any burdens except his own. 
But I want to tell you about that little girl. She is the greatest 
burden-bearer in this community. If you had a pair of those 
new eye-glasses and could look through them at that little 
girl you would be astonished at what she is carrying. You 
have not heard of these new eye-glasses? You have heard of 
the X-ray, that strange light that enables us to see a fat man’s 
bones and to look clear through some people who think they 
know how to keep a secret. The new eye-glasses enable us 
to see what people are carrying. 


288 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


The old eye-glasses were, “Set a thief to catch a thief.” 
If any one is a thief he is the one who can see a thief and 
know all the mean things he is doing. But there are so few 
mean people that it does not pay to make these old eye-glasses. 
A’ new eye-glass firm has been organized, and is called “The 
Junior Congregation Eye-Glass Company, Unlimited.” The 
new eye-glasses are, “Set a burden-bearer to catch a burden- 
bearer.” If a boy or girl has learned to bear the burden of 
others, that is the boy or girl who can see all who are burden- 
bearers and to know all the good things they are doing. 

Now, if you had a pair of these glasses you would be able 
to see that little girl with burdens on both shoulders, burdens 
on top of her head, burdens in both arms. Each finger carry- 
ing a burden as large as that big man would feel able to 
carry on his shoulders. This little girl had read her Bible and 
had read your text, “Bear ye one another’s burdens.” Then 
she began to ask, “Can I bear any one’s burdens?” At first 
she thought that she could only carry some tiny burden, but - 
she was willing to carry a tiny burden for mother. She found 
she could carry this burden, then she added to it some other 
person’s burden, then some other person’s burden, then some 
other one’s heavier burden. She soon found that she was able 
to carry every one of them. Now, something even stranger 
than that. When she took those burdens she found that she 
could run faster, skip the rope oftener, sing better, and that 
her school work seemed to be lighter. All her other burdens 
seemed to grow lighter whenever she took a burden of some 
other person upon herself. I am going to tell you a story, 
and if you do not learn all about this little girl in the story, 
go to mamma and ask her to tell you the rest. The story was 
written by some one who wore the new eye-glasses. Here 
URI Re 

“Bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of 
Christ.” These words came in Lena Graves’ morning Bible 
reading, and they impressed her deeply. She realized that 
there was a lack in their home life, although the Graves family 
was affectionate and, in the main, thoughtful of each other. 
Yet there was a flaw. She determined for this one day to 





THE NEW EYE-GLASSES 289 


try to treat every one she met just as she would like to be 
treated under the same circumstances. It was an experiment, 
of course, but would it not be following out the Scripture 
message she had just received? 

Before going downstairs she resolved that through the day 
she would say every kind word she could honestly utter. She 
began at the breakfast table. “How light these muffins are!” 
she exclaimed, as she broke open the one on her plate. Mrs. 
Graves looked relieved. The family was apt to be critical, 
and she was dreading remarks upon the coffee, which was 
not quite so clear as usual. 

Her next opportunity came as she started for school. 
Bridget was scrubbing the front steps, and the young girl 
paused to say, “You did up my lace collar beautifully, 
Bridget. I really believe it looks better than when it went to 
the laundry.”’ 

“That’s a good thing, sure,’’ answered Bridget, with an 
unwonted smile. And as Lena vanished, for some reason she 
went back and scrubbed a corner of the upper step which she 
had passed over slightingly. 

After the algebra class Lena lingered for a moment at the 
teacher’s desk to say, “That explanation of yours helped me 
to see into this seventh example perfectly. Thank you.” The 
pale, discouraged teacher looked up, surprised. She had a 
sudden, refreshed feeling, such as always comes when a bunch 
of violets was dropped on her desk. Not many words of 
appreciation came her way, and the joy went through the rest 
of the school’s routine. 

And so it went on all through the hours of that eventful 
day. At its close, Lena felt a rare happiness she had never 
known. The next morning mamma was delighted to find that 
Lena had made her own bed and tidied up the room. Then 
when mamma went to her room she found the bed made to 
a perfect spread and the dusting all done—mamma fainted. 
But she “came to,” feeling better and has not had a sick 
headache for three months. 

Then came a new world into Lena’s vision. She saw boys 
and girls, men and women, as she had never seen them be- 


290 ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN’S SERMONS 


fore. So many of them were carrying burdens for other 
people. The old world seems new. The old, sad world was 
glad. She never again called her old father “Dad.” He 
seemed like a young big brother, helping to carry her burdens. 
She became a member of “The Junior Congregation Eye- 
Glass Company, Unlimited.” You could often hear her say, 
“New eye-glasses for sale. Price, the life, suffering and death 
of Christ.” 


THE END 


Ps 


f 1 


’ ws. 4 
D4 ; ‘ ) od whe 

; tat Mees ne 
His aie A Ae ¥h LAY 





} 


5 ty 
Pill 
¢ 


yy Be ee 
ue Nat bie 


ee! 


i A) 
rae Mal 





we 
anf 


te a 


Ohi 
ENT AICteN 
iM 








